WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D - Ore) issued the following statement today hours before the Majority leadership was set to bring their budget proposal to a vote in the United States House of Representatives.  The budget proposal would drastically add to the national debt, cut billions of dollars in domestic spending, and authorizes an additional $228 billion in tax cuts.

"I cannot support a budget plan that makes the overall budget deficit worse while pushing further tax cuts. The Republicans are not only borrowing the cost of their war, but they are trying to hide these costs in 'emergency' spending bills, instead of the normal budget process.  This budget short-changes our future while piling up an unsustainable debt load on our children. And, by only providing one-year "fixes" to the Alternative Minimum Tax, we are putting at risk the futures of middle-class families.
 
"The budget plan calls for an additional $228 billion in tax cuts, simply adding to our borrowed debt and increasing interest payments for taxpayers. Republican leadership continues to punt the hard questions and wait for a dire situation or the next administration to make the tough decisions on issues such as the Alternative Minimum Tax and skyrocketing deficit. Hundreds of thousands of Oregonians are penalized by the AMT, a tax that middle-income families were never intended to pay.

"It is time for Congress to face up to our fiscal problems and deal honestly with American taxpayers about the budget accounting and deficits. This budget doesn't begin to do this."