Better late than never to see Gerry Connolly get this one right!
I do not favor the permanent extension of that tax cut [for the wealthy], and frankly I think we’ve got to look at whether we can afford the middle-class tax cut permanently.
Between the two of them, that’s $3.3 trillion we can’t afford. And so if we decide we’re going to go with one or the other or both, somebody’s going to have to figure out how to pay for it, or else they’re going to have to give up their commitment to deficit reduction.
[…]
…Everything has to be on the table. We have to have an honest discussion and we have to set priorities and we have to express our values. If we decide that those tax cuts are among our highest priorities and represent our community values, great, but then we’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to pay for them, because it is going to cost. It’s not cost free. And that’s true about every choice we make.
I think much of the discussion here in Washington, frankly, has been dishonest in that it focuses narrowly on one band of spending, to the exclusion of a discussion about revenues, tax expenditures, entitlement programs, and national defense. All of which has to be on the table in this broad national discussion about our priorities and our values.
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