Thought We Had Avoided that Fiscal Cliff?

Well, not so fast, apparently Washington is back on that same path and hasn't yet figured out how to avoid that stretch of road.

It seems that just last month the country was on the brink of doom and disaster — facing a fiscal cliff of epic proportions. Oh wait, that was just last month. On the eve of disaster, the problem was averted by a last-minute deal that resulted in almost everybody's taxes going up. According to The Huffington Post, Washington hasn't yet figured how to get off that path and we're back on the road again, approaching that pesky fiscal cliff. Dubbing it an austeroid, a play on words relating to an austerity asteroid, The Huffington Post points out that the country is about to be hit with the "sequester" on March 1, which could cut another 0.6 percent from growth. That on top of the 1.5 hit that The Huffington Post laid at the feet of the first …

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Letters to the Editor

"Rep. Woodall Should be Held Accountable for Voting Against the Middle Class"

Letter to the Editor: "Congress, without the help of Representative Rob Woodall, finally came together to protect the middle class."

(Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor sent by Jason Pfeifle, field organizer for Georgia Fair Share.) Congress, without the help of Representative Rob Woodall, finally came together to protect the middle class. On Tuesday, Congress passed a bipartisan compromise that extends much needed tax cuts for middle class Georgians and local small businesses. Unfortunately, Representative Rob Woodall, who represents a large number of local Georgians, voted, in effect, for a $2,200 tax hike on middle class families in the midst of a slow economic recovery.  By taking money out of the pockets of middle class families, this kind of tax increase would have threatened to derail the progress our state has made since the beginning of the …

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Rep. Rob Woodall Rejects Senate's Fiscal Cliff "Deal"

It's "all dessert and no vegetables."

U.S. Representative Rob Woodall (R-GA-07) issued the following statement after the House passed H.R. 8, a bill to address the so-called “fiscal cliff.”  Rep. Woodall voted for the original proposal in August but voted against the bill as amended by the Senate on Monday, Jan. 1. The Senate’s bill is all dessert and no vegetables.  It puts into permanent law the campaign promise on which President Obama ran: ‘You can have all the government that you desire and you won’t be asked to pay even a penny for it.’  That promise is destroying America, and I will fight it with every fiber of my being. Spending is the problem in Washington, not tax revenue.  Yet the Senate's bill does nothing to curtail spending.  In fact, it both eliminates …

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John Kerry Nominated as Secretary of State, NRA Calls for More Guns and Fiscal Cliff Negotiations

Join the national conversation in the top stories of the week.

This column is designed to offer a platform to discuss national stories on a local level. Share your opinion in the comment section! ---------- John Kerry, who currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been nominated for Secretary of State by President Obama. You may not know this, but Kerry was instrumental in changing the way that Clarkston, Ga., dealt with its refugee population.  Kerry was first elected to the Senate in 1984, and re-elected in 1990, 1996 and 2002, according to Biography.com. He ran for president in 2004 against George W. Bush, and lost.  Other notable accomplishments: ---------- The NRA has called for a surge of gun-carrying "good guys" around American schools in a recent press conference. The …

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Should the FairTax Solution be Part of Fiscal Cliff Negotiations?

With tax the big issue in "fiscal cliff" negotiations, would now not be the right time to take a serious look at the FairTax solution?

On Dec. 17, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga-7, sent a letter to the Joint Committee on Taxation to produce a revenue estimate of H.R. 25 and S. 13, the FairTax bill. According to a press release from Woodall's office, this estimate would allow the FairTax proposal to be considered during congressional negotiations for tax reform. “The current tax code has become too burdensome and complex, and is filled with provisions that benefit only a few Americans at the expense of everyone else. That’s simply not right,” said Chambliss. “Now is the time to enact the FairTax, which would create a fairer, simpler tax code that allows every American the freedom to determine his or her own priorities and opportunities…

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Sharon Swanepoel

9:46 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013

An executive summary PDF has been uploaded at the request of Stephen Eldridge   more ›

Letters to the Editor

Rep. Rob Woodall: "Washington Has a Spending Problem"

Rep. Rob Woodall offers an update on the fiscal cliff crisis in this letter to the editor.

(Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor from Rep. Rob Woodall.) Our 2012 deficit is $1.1 trillion.  While the federal government took in just as much tax revenue ($2.4 trillion) this year as it did in 2006, the annual deficit has grown 340%.   Why?   Higher spending.   Notwithstanding what is being reported in the popular press, I can tell you with certainty that Washington doesn't have a revenue problem—it has a spending problem!   This Administration's higher spending has made it the first in history to run an annual deficit exceeding one trillion dollars. This Administration has continued this same record deficit spending for the past four years now.   To us, seeing such a dramatic increase in deficits while revenue …

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Letters to the Editor

Fine, Stop Kicking the Can, But Cut Taxes Already!

A 'letter to the editor' in response to Rep. Rob Woodall, submitted by Jason Pfeifle, field organizer for Georgia Fair Share.

(Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor sent by Jason Pfeifle, field organizer for Georgia Fair Share, in response to Rep. Rob Woodall's letter to the editor on the fiscal cliff titled "Rep. Woodall: 'I Will Not be Complicit in Kicking the Can Down the Road.'") The fiscal cliff is quickly approaching, and itʼs time for our elected officials to get something done. In a recent opinion piece in the Snellville Patch, Representative Rob Woodall called for a comprehensive solution to the pending fiscal cliff and outlined what he thinks that solution should look like: reduced government spending, increased revenue through the closing of tax loopholes, and no changes to current tax rates. But, if Rep. Woodall is so concerned about …

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Does Washington Have a Spending Problem or a Revenue Problem?

Depending on your opinion, what programs would you be prepared to cut, or what percentage of your income would you be prepared to give in taxes, to fix the problem?

As "fiscal cliff" negotiations heat up, congress can’t agree on whether Washington has a spending problem or a revenue problem. Nor can the American people or, in many instances, even economist In an article on Marketplace.org, headed up “Washington has a spending problem not a revenue problem,” the argument is made that you can’t keep spending and just raising taxes to meet the outflow of money. The best way to fix the country’s deficit problem is to gut spending. In a story in the Daily Kos, Joan McCarter looks at it from the other side in an article titled, “We have a revenue problem, not a spending problem.” In the story, McCarter shows the loss in revenue as a result of the Bush tax cuts and the economic downturn in the economy …

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Good Grief Y'all

7:34 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Yes, I think before I post. And, again, you're just belatedly agreeing with me on the gunpoint-tax issue. No, I don't speed. Learned that lesson a few expensive times a couple of decades ago. Speeding doesn't get you there any faster, in most cases. Have you ever noticed, driving along and somebody flies past you. You stay steady on the speed limit, and then you pull up right behind or beside the…   more ›

Letters to the Editor

Rep. Rob Woodall: "I Will Not be Complicit in Kicking the Can Down the Road"

Rep. Woodall discusses his thoughts on the fiscal cliff in this letter to the editor.

(Editor's note: the following was sent by Rep. Rob Woodall (R) as a letter to the editor to Snellville Patch.) If you've turned on a television or opened a newspaper in the last few weeks, you've no doubt seen the so-called "fiscal cliff" conversation unfolding in Washington.  The "fiscal cliff" is Washington-speak for the expiration of Bush-era tax rates coupled with across-the-board spending cuts on many domestic spending accounts.   While the fiscal cliff coverage continues to escalate as the January deadline draws near, I can tell you these discussions are absolutely nothing new.  They are a continuation of every discussion that the House and the President have had during my two years in Congress: the President wants to see taxes go up…

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Woodall Schedules Telephone Town Hall Meetings

Woodall to inform, seek input from Seventh District constituents on fiscal cliff issue.

With fiscal cliff talks in full swing in Congress, U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Lawrenceville) has scheduled three Telephone Town Hall Meetings with his Seventh District constituents in December. “America’s wellbeing hangs in the balance of decisions we make over the next few weeks. As fiscal talks escalate here in Congress, it’s critical that the Seventh District know what is happening in Washington, and that I hear their input,” Woodall said in a press release announcing the telephone talks. The House’s schedule prevents him from scheduling any in-person Town Hall Meetings in December, he said. Here is the schedule: They will be open to all constituents in the Seventh District.  Toll-free call-in information is the same for all three events…

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