WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a House-appointed negotiator on the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, this week is discussing efforts to extend payroll tax relief and unemployment benefits, provide certainty for seniors and their doctors, and create jobs.
“The president said himself, just last week, let’s do it for a whole year. That’s what we’re trying to do. We want to start off the new year with all the new issues to consider - there’s still enough time, yet this month, to try and figure out where we want to go and how we want to pay for it.
“Let’s finish the job, let’s get the job done. There’s still enough time."
“Most of us, on both sides, House, Senate, Republican, Democrat, are on the same page. We want a one-year extension of the payroll tax [relief]. It means to the average family a thousand bucks, which is a lot of money.
“We can get this thing done. We have appointed conferees. It’s not our road or the highway. We know that there are going to be some changes in both of the bills. Let’s sit down, figure it out, and get the job done."
“There is no reason why we can’t get this thing done. Speaker Boehner appointed eight conferees now, in the House, we’re waiting to see who the Democrats are going to appoint. There’s lots of issues where we agree. Even the Keystone pipeline was in the Democratic bill that passed in the Senate on Saturday. That’s not an item in disagreement, so let’s figure this out.
“We’ve got enough time to get this thing done and we are prepared, the conferees, we are prepared to stay here as long as it takes to get a bill done, to negotiate with the Democrats, to get something that makes a lot of sense and there is not a member that won’t come back to vote for this."
