Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on the rules of the chamber for the 111th Congress. Usually a routine affair, the Congressional Democrat Majority is using the formality of a rules vote to make it easier to raise taxes, and make it harder for minority Republicans to oppose tax hikes.

Because the Rules of the House will make it more difficult to oppose tax hikes and support tax cuts, ATR may rate a vote against adopting the rules in our annual “Hero of the Taxpayer” Congressional scorecard.

The rules changes will have direct consequences for the American taxpayer. Among other things, they’ll make it harder to cut taxes. Under existing rules, if Democrats bring a bill to the floor that includes a tax increase, Republicans could motion to send the bill back to committee and strike the tax hike, but the Majority’s rules package takes this option away. As families and small businesses struggle during these difficult economic times, shouldn’t Congress be working to cut their taxes, not raise them?

For more information, contact Ryan Ellis at ATR by emailing him at [email protected]

View the PDF version of the legislative alert.