Dec. 28, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement urging the Senate to finally act on legislation that would actually avert the fiscal cliff of tax increases on every single American:
“Although the Senate has passed legislation that would affect tax rates at the start of the new year, the bill itself is unconstitutional, as S. 3412 never originated in the House of Representatives. Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution requires that ‘All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.’ House Speaker John Boehner could not act on this bill, or amend it, even if he wanted to due to this constitutional delegation of authority.
“The Senate has been provided many pieces of legislation by the House, such as H.R. 8, that it could lawfully amend or pass, allowing the Senate and House to convene a conference committee to resolve differences. That is how constitutionally a bill becomes law.
“What can be inferred from Senate Democrats’ refusal to act on any House legislation to avert the fiscal cliff is that Harry Reid has every intention of raising taxes on every American one way or another. Or else he would have simply amended an H.R. bill, like the Senate did to pass Obamacare, to include his preferred resolution to the fiscal cliff.
“Obama, who has failed to demand the Senate take further action, is therefore complicit in increasing taxes on all Americans. Even if the House did pass S. 3412, as many Senators have demanded, and the President signed it, it would later be held to be unconstitutional, and then everyone’s taxes would go up anyway. Reid and Obama know this. They want to go over the cliff.
“The House has done its job. Now it is up to the Senate to take up H.R. 8 and pass it or amend it. The Senate need not agree with everything the House has done, but Reid’s method of averting the fiscal cliff would not pass muster in a basic civics class, let alone a court of law.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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