The House of representatives passed Eric Cantor’s 20 percent small business tax cut 235-173 [1]. How did Virginia’s delegation vote?
Yes:
Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Griffith, Hurt, Rigell, Wittman
No:
Connolly, Moran, Scott.
Present:
Wolf
Explaining his “present” vote, Rep. Wolf said [2], in part:
Unfortunately, the House today has done no better than the Senate or president. The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial today [3] headlined Bipartisan Tax Gimmickry, candidly described the proposal before us as a “gimmick” and went on to say that Republicans “would do more for the economy and their political prospects if they began to educate the country about sensible tax policy.”
The bill before us is a temporary, one-year proposal that will increase our debt by $46 billion, without an offset to pay for this additional deficit spending. I want to stress: $46 billion for a temporary, one-year proposal.
I want to remind my colleagues that two months ago Congress essentially wiped out the $95 billion in savings cut from the 2011 and 2012 appropriations bills when in it approved extending the payroll “holiday” for another year at a cost of $93 billion.
We are now talking about adding to this spending for a total of $139 billion in temporary, one-year in stimulus spending with no offsets; no way to pay for it.
So Uncle Frank is preaching that old-time religion. He says he voted “present” to bring attention to the reality that America is heading toward a fiscal cliff, and that what is truly needed is sweeping tax reform, rather than measures like Cantor proposed, and the House approved.
There is substantial merit to this objection, though a “no” vote would have shown greater personal conviction.