For Immediate Release
Contact: April Kaufman (Rep. Tauscher), 202/225-1880
Erica Ferri (Rep. Houghton), 202/225-3161

In one their first major actions since being formed late last year, the bipartisan House Centrist Coalition joined a group of Republican and Democratic Senators today to introduce a resolution in support of triggered tax cuts.

"Fiscal responsibility isn't a Republican or Democratic issue. It's a common-sense issue," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D -- Calif., 10). "Congress shouldn't make promises it can't keep -- or run the risk or putting our country's economy in jeopardy a few years down the road if current rosy budget projections don't pan out."

Republican Co-Chair of the House Centrist Coalition, Amo Houghton (N.Y., 31), who is co-sponsoring the resolution with Rep. Tauscher, urged the trigger as a common-sense monitor. "When the federal government puts in place a ten year plan on anything -- particularly tax reduction -- there must be windows to monitor the progress of the program. No one can accurately predict five years out, much less ten years. This is why a spending and tax triggering mechanism is important," said Houghton.

The resolution would mandate the use of a trigger as a "safety net" to ensure tax cuts and spending are in line with actual money on hand. Citing recent Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the resolution would also trigger the phase in of tax cuts to ensure specified debt reduction targets are met.

Pointing out that the Congressional Budget Office's forecasts are off about half the time -- which can result in a several billion dollar difference in just a few years -- the resolution warns against passing tax cuts or spending increases that are so large taxes will have to be raised or spending significantly cut if anticipated surpluses fail to materialize.

"Everyone agrees that tax relief is an important goal that should be accomplished this year," noted Rep. Tim Roemer (Ind.,3), Democratic Co-Chair of the House Centrist Coalition. "But it should be done in a manner that ensures we continue to put our fiscal house in order by paying down the public debt. This measure shows there is bipartisan support for making conservative, common-sense decisions that continue the fiscal responsibility of the past few years."

"A trigger on the phase-in of new tax cuts and new spending just makes sense. I strongly support addressing this important issue before the final version of the tax and budget legislation is passed," said Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del., at large).

Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.,3) added, "I don't believe we should gamble with our children's future by supporting a tax cut plan that is based on budget surpluses that may or may not materialize."