THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Through seven years of tough choices and fiscal discipline, we have changed record deficits to surpluses, paid down the debt for three years in a row, and put America on course to be debt-free by 2012. As today's vote demonstrates, the majority in Congress still seems to be determined to knock America off this path of fiscal discipline with a ten year tax plan that will drain nearly $2 trillion from the surplus and drive us back into deficits.

I urge Congress to work with me on a middle class tax cut to help Americans send their children to college, provide long-term care for elderly or disabled relatives, make child care more affordable, and provide targeted marriage penalty tax relief. If the majority in Congress is serious about paying down the debt, they should abandon the failed tax plan they continue to advocate and work with me to pass tax cuts targeted to America's families, strengthen Social Security and Medicare, create a voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit, invest in education, and keep America on course to be debt-free by 2012. This is the best approach for America.

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