WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- House Democrats want to roll back President George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while extending tax cuts for the middle class.
"Congressional Republicans -- eager to return to the 'exact same agenda' of failed Bush economic policies that put us into this mess -- continue to call for an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest few despite the staggering $678 billion cost to the deficit, after voting against tax cuts for small businesses and 98 percent of working families," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a release Wednesday.
"President Obama and Democrats in Congress are committed to sustaining a strong national economy through fiscally responsible tax policies -- including ensuring middle-class American families and small businesses continue to see tax relief."
Pelosi quoted a Washington Post editorial that argued ending Bush's tax cuts for the rich while continuing middle-class tax relief is the best course to get the economy back on track.
"Certainly, given the yawning debt, there is no reason to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. … Analyzing the best bang-for-the-buck policies to stimulate the economy, the Congressional Budget Office found that the least effective was extending tax cuts for the top brackets," the Post said in an editorial Wednesday.
"Congressional Republicans support Wall Street banks, credit card companies, Big Oil, and insurance companies -- the special interests that benefited from George Bush's policies and created the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression," Pelosi said in her statement. "A decade of Republican rule nearly doubled our national debt. We are not going back."
