Sen. Zell Miller joins Sen. Phil Gramm in sponsoring President’s tax cut

WASHINGTON – Today, in a bold bipartisan move, Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) joined Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) by signing on to co-sponsor President George W. Bush’s 10-year 1.6 trillion tax-cut plan.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, issued the following statement on Miller’s co-sponsorship of Bush’s tax-cut proposal:

"We already know that Sen. Gramm is an advocate for lower taxes.  His sponsorship comes as no surprise.  But Sen. Miller’s support of the tax cut plan signals a bold move of bipartisanship on his part.

"To honor Sens. Gramm and Miller we have decided to name each of them the Taxpayer Friend of the Month for January 2001.  Should any other legislators decide to co-sponsor President Bush’s tax-cut package, they will be considered for a Friend of the Taxpayer award as well.

"Sen. Miller is the first Democrat to step forward and sign on to President Bush’s tax cut plan.  While many in his party seem to think that working Americans don’t pay enough in taxes, Sen. Miller had the courage to recognized that the tax burden on working Americans is too high and that it is time for the people who created the surplus to get a little of their money back.

"Most Democrats fail to realize that the tax-cut proposed by President Bush and sponsored by Sens. Gramm and Miller is less than half the size of the tax cut introduced by President John F. Kennedy and one third the size of President Ronald Reagan’s.  Interestingly, a Democrat-controlled Congress passed both of those tax plans. 

"Let’s hope that Sen. Miller has paved the way for many of his Democratic colleagues to jump aboard this tax-cut proposal and give the American people a little of their hard-earned money back."