Ehrlich on Washington column, August 14, 2000

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 21093 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of August 1 4, 2000 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. A Busy Congress As I listened to respected leaders like General Colin Powell and Texas Governor George W. Bush speak at the Republican National Convention, I was reminded of the important bipartisan work my Congressional colleagues and I are accomplishing this session. We are protecting Social Security and Medicare, paying down the public debt, and enacting tax relief. At a time when many pundits predicted this Republican-led Congress would simply coast to Election Day, we are proving them wrong, and by doing so, ensuring the future is debt-free for all Americans. Once again, Congress is bringing fiscal discipline to the Federal government. Just as most families must operate within a budget, we believe the same should be true for the Federal government. To this end, we stopped the Federal government’s 39-year practice of raiding the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds to pay for other projects by declaring them off-limits. Protection of Americans’ retirement security means reversing the course of over three decades of reckless spending which increased our nation’s public debt. We have now charted a new course towards financial freedom that stops the raid on Social Security and Medicare, balances our budget, and pays off our obligations to Americans who loaned the government money by purchasing treasury bills and bonds over the years. Even with keeping Social Security and Medicare off-limits and paying down the debt, the government’s projected surplus continues to grow — now a staggering $1.8 trillion over the next decade. As you know, however, this revenue is not the government’s windfall. Quite the opposite, this money is an overpayment by hardworking Americans - and should rightly be returned. To this end, we are passing meaningful tax relief legislation: For example, we passed bipartisan tax relief to help approximately 28 million married couples — over 550,000 in Maryland — who pay an average of $1400 in higher taxes due to a quirk in the tax code which pushes working couples into higher tax brackets. Unfortunately, when the time came for the President to say, “I do,” and sign this common sense legislation, he instead turned his back on these families and vetoed the bill. Congress is burying the death tax which takes from survivors up to 55% of the value of a family