(Washington, D.C.)  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers issued the following statement today after House Democrats unveiled their Fiscal Year 2008 Budget proposal:

“The Democrats today unveiled a budget plan that includes the largest tax increase in American history. By allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire, families, couples, seniors and small business will experience at least a $392.5 billion tax increase.

“The tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 benefit over 2,385,000 Washington state residents. This budget would put into jeopardy the child tax credit, tax deductions for paying college tuition, retirement savings and IRA contributions, the adoption credit, and other tax credits that are specifically designed to reduce the tax burden on students, families, and seniors.

“Companies in Eastern Washington, such as Telect, have told me that if it were not for the tax cuts they would have gone out of business. And because of the Research and Development tax credit, Honeywell was able to double their research dollars at their Spokane facility.

“Pro-growth policies are reducing the deficit and contributing to record high revenues. By letting people keep more of their own hard-earned money, they are able to reinvest it into the economy which ultimately increases revenue in the federal treasury.

“With this budget proposal, the Democrats are failing to acknowledge that we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Their proposal does nothing to slow the growth of entitlement spending, an area where real reform is needed.

“Throughout the budget process we must continue to look for ways to make the tax cuts permanent, cut spending and restore fiscal discipline”