Midland, MI – Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement responding to President Obama’s press conference in which he called for Congress to undo some of the spending cuts called for in his sequester plan.

“There is a spending problem in Washington.  That is why nearly two years ago, in a rare showing of bipartisanship, Congress agreed to the President’s sequester plan to take a small step toward reducing overspending.  I’m disappointed the President is now backing away from that deal – a deal that he first suggested.  Walking away from spending cuts and replacing them with tax increases will do nothing to solve our spending problem, but it will hurt job creation.  If the President wants different spending cuts, we can work to find better, smarter cuts.  In fact, the House passed two bills to cut spending in a more responsible way, but the Democrat-controlled Senate has failed to act.  

“The bottom line is this: we need to cut spending.  It makes no sense to raise taxes on hardworking Americans, as the President calls for, while Washington continues to spend taxpayer dollars.  By the government’s own estimates, it wasted $115 billion in 2011 alone on improper payments across numerous government programs and agencies.  Targeting wasteful spending, rather than targeting taxpayers, is where Republicans are focusing their energies – and 73 percent of Americans agree that reducing spending is better for our economy than simply spending more.

“On the tax front, I welcome the President’s willingness to close loopholes in the tax code.  However, real tax reform should benefit hardworking taxpayers by giving them a simpler, fairer tax code that leads to a stronger economy and more jobs.  Under the President’s plan, closing loopholes would just fund more Washington spending.  That’s not tax reform, that’s just the tired, old and failed tax and spend policies of the past.”