On Friday, the House and Senate overwhelmingly voted to extend current payroll tax rates. The deal was reached after House Republican leaders agreed to scrap demands that the revenues lost from lower rates be offset with spending cuts elsewhere in the government. One GOP House leader did not go along with the compromise. Texas Rep. John Carter serves as GOP Conference Secretary. He doesn’t think the lower rates are helping the economy and he doesn’t like the idea of taking money away from Social Security recipients. But his biggest criticism is that Congress is adding to an already staggering debt and a Republican-led House is a willing partner. Carter says the GOP needs to get back to regular order, which means passing a conservative bill and then negotiating with the Senate Democrats rather than negotiating before anything is passed. Despite his frustrations, Rep. Carter strongly believes voters should trust Republicans much more than Democrats when it comes to addressing the nation’s fiscal challenges.
