WASHINGTON, DC– Today, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to deliver a strong rebuke of the GOP Tax Plan that will balloon the national deficit by $1.5 trillion, fails to give real tax relief to American families who need it most, and will not boost economic growth for our nation. In his speech, he urged real, bipartisan work toward real tax reform and pledged to work with his Republican colleagues if they are willing to put country before party.

“I understand that real tax reform is absolutely necessary.

“But we should not -- and we don’t need to -- balloon the federal debt to achieve these goals, and that’s exactly why Republican proposals in the House and the Senate are so harmful for our country.

 “We can point fingers at each other about how we got here.  But if we are trying to get out of a hole, first we need to stop digging.

“Thirty seven of 38 economists agreed that the GOP tax bills in Congress would cause U.S. debt to increase ‘substantially’ faster than the economy.

“What in the world has happened to the Grand Old Party and fiscal responsibility?

“This is not what you or your constituents really want. They don’t want their tax breaks to expire while corporate breaks don’t. They don’t want students to suffer from even more debt.

“We can do a real tax reform without jeopardizing our children’s future. 

“If my Republican colleagues will commit to doing that, I will commit to working with you, and I will honestly and publicly thank you for putting country before politics.”

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Click HERE or above to watch Rep. Peters speak about the need for real tax reform.

Click HERE for the full transcript of the speech.