Cooper, Tanner Hammer Debt Reduction
Congressmen Jim Cooper and John Tanner attacked a Republican deficit-expansion plan passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that will add another $56 billion to the federal debt and increase taxes for future generations. Cooper and Tanner, leaders of the fiscally minded Blue Dog Coalition, instead supported a more balanced bill that called for many of the same provisions without raising the federal debt, which now exceeds $8 trillion. “This Congress and the Bush Administration have borrowed more money than any other political leadership in our nation’s history, much of it from foreign countries,” said Tanner, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “Our children and grandchildren will be burdened with paying interest to those foreign investors.” Cooper, the Blue Dog policy chair, added: “The difference is we are serious about debt reduction. They chose instead to pass that burden on to the next generation as a ‘debt tax’ increase.” For more information, check out the Blue Dog Coalition’s web site.
