Deficits and Debt

The path to real deficit reduction and a balanced budget requires sacrifices from all Americans. From reducing spending, like cutting agriculture subsidies and accelerating the drawdown in Afghanistan, to increasing revenue by closing tax loopholes for massively profitable companies and restoring tax rates on the highest earners, we can achieve our aims through shared sacrifice and bipartisan compromise.

I believe we can cut the deficit while preserving our social safety net by finally asking a little bit more from the wealthiest Americans. This is not class warfare, and this is not about punishing millionaires who have done well. It is about asking them to do their fair share. Even though the wealthiest Americans face nearly the lowest marginal tax rates in modern American history, so many take advantage of loopholes and shelters that a quarter of millionaires pay a lower tax rate than those in the middle-class.

Congress must still act to address the deficit. The Budget Control Act approved in August 2011 requires major automatic cuts to both defense and domestic spending if an alternate agreement is not reached. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have made it clear they do not want to see the automatic cuts imposed. Both sides come together and agree to pursue a balanced and structured agreement.

I am working to implement a forward thinking plan that invests in our economic growth to create jobs. I support combining measures to cut spending – including cutting agriculture subsidies and an accelerated drawdown from Afghanistan – with closing tax loopholes for oil and gas companies and returning to the tax rates on high-end incomes that existed in the high-growth 1990s.

Accomplishments

• Urged the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to cut $4 trillion in a bipartisan letter

• Support ending tax payer funded subsidies for healthy industries including oil, ethanol and cotton

• Support deficit reduction that limits government spending growth, protects our social safety net, and expands revenue collection, particularly from the richest Americans and large corporations.