Rep. Gerlach Opposes Tax Hikes, Runaway Spending by Obama, Dems

Congressman Jim Gerlach, a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District, issued the following statement on the passage of Barack Obama's massive deficit budget by Congressional Democrats:

"Families across America are working harder to stretch their paychecks and eliminate frivolous spending while waiting for the economy to rebound," Gerlach said. "Washington needs to do the same. That's why I support making permanent tax cuts that have saved the average Pennsylvania resident more than $2,000 a year and common sense spending that would shrink a ballooning budget deficit.

"Unfortunately, this colossal budget proposal the House passed on Thursday calls for spending $1.22 trillion more than the federal government expects to collect in revenues. Non-emergency discretionary spending would top $1 trillion – or about 35 times the size of Pennsylvania's annual budget. Taxpayers understand that Washington cannot print money fast enough to keep up with that reckless pace of spending. And under this budget, taxes would jump by $1.4 trillion at a time when job creators can least afford additional burdens. Very simply, this budget plan taxes too much, spends too much and borrows too much."