Senate Democrats Attack GOP Over Tax Cuts

A pair of Senate Democrats, Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.), continued their party’s assault on Republicans over the GOP’s desire to extend tax cuts for Americans making over $250,000 per year.

“George Bush racked up trillions of dollars in debt cutting taxes for the wealthy, and now Senate Republicans want to extend those cuts and pass the bill along to our children,” said Whitehouse. “We need to keep taxes low for the struggling middle-class, but it’s not wise to add to our debt to subsidize low taxes for multi-millionaires.”
 
“The Democratic tax plan is straightforward: it cuts taxes for all Americans on the first $250,000 of their income,” added Merkley. “The Republican plan, however, seeks budget busting bonus benefits for millionaires and billionaires. This Republican plan — which costs over $700 billion over 10 years — is bad for our debt and bad for our economy.”

Udall Encourages Troops To Claim Stop-Loss Pay

New Mexico Senator Tom Udall (D) released the following statement urging American troops who have been asked to continue their tours of service under stop-loss rules, to apply for special compensation granted under this year’s war funding bill:

“I want to encourage the servicemen and women whose service was extended by ‘Stop Loss’ to apply for retroactive pay benefits now,” Udall said. “Our Active Duty, Reserve and Guard troops have shown great dedication by continuing to defend America during its time of need and they have earned this compensation.”

START Treaty Scores Key Victory

A Senate panel voted today to pass the New START Treaty. The 14-4 vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Commttee means the treaty will go to the Senate floor for ratification sometime this session. President Obama is hoping that vote takes place sooner than later.

“Today, I urge the full Senate to move forward quickly with a vote to approve this Treaty,” Obama said. “I encourage members on both sides of the aisle to give this agreement the fair hearing and bipartisan support that it deserves, and that has been given to past agreements of its kind.”

Senate Passes Small Business Legislation

The Senate voted 61-38 today to pass a bill aimed at assisting small businesses throughout the nation. The bill will now go back to the House for final approval. The Hill has more on today’s vote…

Obama: Poverty Rate Would've Been Even Higher Without My Policies

The White House released a statement from President Barack Obama today in response to a new Census Bureau report showing that U.S. poverty levels increased remarkably in 2009.

In the statement, Obama said his administration should be credited for taking steps last year to ensure that the historically high poverty figures did not grow even larger.

“Because of the Recovery Act and many other programs providing tax relief and income support to a majority of working families – and especially those most in need – millions of Americans were kept out of poverty last year,” the president said. “The substantial expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) helped inoculate our children from the economic distress experienced by their parents, as there was little change in the percentage of children without health insurance.”

“The Affordable Care Act will build on that success by expanding health insurance coverage to more families,” Obama added.