Late last night, Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson voted against the $858 billion omnibus tax bill, calling it “a picture perfect example of the misguided spending and legislative procedures overwhelmingly rejected by the American people in November.”  The bill, H.R. 4853, would have extended current tax rates and provisions for two years, but it also included a number of other provisions added onto the bill to entice members to support it, including a temporary Social Security tax reduction and tax breaks for ethanol, NASCAR, and television and movie producers. 

Simpson, who supports making tax cuts for families and small businesses permanent, expressed concern about continuing uncertainty in the tax code and the failure of Congress to provide families, farmers, and businesses with long-term tax certainty. 

“As I talk to farmers, ranchers, and businesses throughout Idaho about the economic challenges they face, the common theme I hear is that tax and regulatory uncertainty has forced them to hunker down and wait out the economic storm, rather than investing in their businesses and creating new jobs,” said Simpson.  “If we truly want to get our budget deficit under control, we need to get our economy going again.  Regrettably, instead of providing our nation’s job creators with the certainty they need to jumpstart our economy, this bill only creates more uncertainty and piles even more debt on our children and grandchildren through its inclusion of countless extraneous provisions.”

Simpson also expressed concern about a provision to take $112 billion from the Social Security Trust Fund next year through a short-term reduction in the payroll tax.  “Experts across the political spectrum, including those on the President’s own Debt Commission, are warning Congress that it needs to make tough decisions not only on discretionary spending, but on programs like Social Security and Medicare. This bill not only fails to start the process of making those tough choices, it actually makes matters worse by moving Social Security even closer to insolvency,” said Simpson.

Over the course of the last year, Simpson has repeatedly argued that reducing the budget deficit and national debt should be the number one priority of Congress. H.R. 4853, he argues, moves our nation further away from solving its budget problems. "Given the enormity of the fiscal crisis facing our nation, Congress can't continue to produce so-called compromises where everyone simply gets everything they want. Regrettably, this bill represents the ‘borrow and spend’ mentality that has enabled our fiscal crisis and is a product of a broken legislative process that disgusts the American people.”

Simpson voted against an amendment offered by Representative Pomeroy (D-ND) to raise the estate tax from the 35 percent included in the bill to 45 percent and reduce the exemption level from $5 million to $3.5 million.  The amendment failed.

The House passed H.R. 4853 by a vote of 277-148 late last night.  The bill, which has already passed the Senate, now goes to the President for his signature.