CHARGE AND RESPONSE DOCUMENT The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 H.R.

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Charge: Extending the Payroll Tax Holiday and UI benefits will increase the deficit in the first few years. Response: The measure protects the Social Security Trust Fund from being harmed by cutting government spending and directing those savings to replenish the trust fund. For two years, President Obama and a Democrat-led Congress went on a reckless, job-killing spending spree that brought our nation to $15 trillion in debt and an unemployment rate that has averaged 9.3% since President Obama took office. House Republicans have taken away the presidents credit card and will, for the first time, ensure that the payroll tax holiday will not require an increase in long term debt by freezing pay for members of congress and federal workers, getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse in some Washington programs and reducing subsidies that the wealthiest Americans receive. Charge: Republicans should insist on returning to a pre-Obama Administration structure of 26 weeks of unemployment insurance rather than eliminating 40 weeks. Response: We would not be having a debate about unemployment insurance had the presidents economic agenda not been such a failure and had he not forced the next generation of hard working taxpayers to pay for attempts to fix his jobs crisis. House Republicans want to ensure that those who truly need unemployment insurance can rely upon it but also reform the program to ensure it focuses on helping get people back to work like instituting basic work requirements, allowing states to test innovative state-based solutions, and permitting states to perform drug screening and testing to improve prospects for future employment. We are also ensuring that our children and grandchildren are not paying for todays job crisis by adding to the deficit. Charge: Republicans are cutting unemployment benefits when out-of-work Americans need it most. Response: Our plan will provide a safety net for those who have lost their job but do so in a way that wont bankrupt our children and grandchildren. Recognizing that unemployment services should focus on helping Americans get back to work, the bill uses a two-step process to

gradually reduce current maximum weeks of benefits from 99 to 59 weeks, a common-sense level that is in line with past recessions and economic downturns (President Obamas own plan recognizes that American taxpayers cannot subsidize benefits for an unprecedented, unending period of time by reducing the maximum weeks by 20 by mid-FY 2012). Americans want paychecks -- not unemployment checks -- so House Republicans have been working to turn the Obama economy around by getting job-killing spending under control, fighting President Obamas proposed tax increases on job creators and rolling back regulations that are destroying American jobs. There are 27 bipartisan jobs bills that are stacking up like cord wood in the Do-Nothing Democrat Senate. Charge: This plan could hasten the next debt limit increase. Response: There are many factors that determine when our nation will hit the debt ceiling, and we dont know for sure when the President will ask for another increase. House Republicans will continue our efforts to create jobs, which will generate more revenue as more workers pay taxes, and cut wasteful Washington spending. This plan will allow more Americans to keep more of their own hard-earned money but does so in a way that protects the Social Security Trust Fund. Charge: Congress has already signed $2 trillion of cuts into law. Republicans should stop protecting millionaires and billionaires who should be paying their fair share instead of cutting unemployment and Medicare benefits. Response: President Obamas economic policies have delivered an unemployment rate of 8% or higher for the past 34 months, the longest since the Great Depression. Instead of dividing Americans and taking more from American job creators to pay for more government, he should be protecting hardworking taxpayers from the bailouts, subsidies and loopholes that wealthy Americans too often receive from our government. Charge: This plan extends policy (ies) supported by Democrats at a time when we should be reducing our deficit and debt. Response: Unemployment Insurance: In an effort to mask the effects of their failed stimulus policies that has led to the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, the last Democratled Congress borrowed money from future generations of hardworking taxpayers to pay for unemployment benefits that can last up to 99 weeks almost two full years for some out-ofwork Americans. This legislation ensures that those who are unable to find work because of the Obama economy will continue to receive unemployment benefits, but our plan includes reforms that focus on helping Americans get back to work without forcing the next generation to pay for this generations unemployment crisis by adding to the deficit. We have to stop spending money we dont have. Everything in the House bill is offset by spending cuts, rather than through tax increases that would hit small businesses and destroy jobs, as proposed in Senate Democrats payroll tax relief bill.

Response: Payroll Tax Cuts: When Republicans blocked the largest tax increase in American history late last year, President Obama insisted upon a temporary, one-year payroll tax holiday for all American workers that will expire at the end of this year. While the administration promised that unemployment would not increase above 8 percent, it has remained above that level for 34 months straight. Republicans want to protect all workers from a tax increase in January but refuse to do that in a way that borrows resources from the Social Security trust fund and forces future generations to pay more of the price for President Obamas failed economic policies. Everything in the House bill is offset by spending cuts, rather than through tax increases that would hit small businesses and destroy jobs, as proposed in Senate Democrats payroll tax relief bill. Charge: 13.3 million Americans are still unemployed. Obviously the original payroll tax holiday didnt work. Response: House Republicans have been working to turn the Obama economy around by getting job-killing spending under control, fighting President Obamas proposed tax increases on job creators and rolling back regulations that are destroying American jobs. There are 27 bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills that are stacking up like cord wood in the Do-Nothing Democrat Senate. While the payroll tax is not the best answer to economic growth and job creation, we want to protect working Americans from a tax increase but do so in a way that does not require more borrowing from the Social Security trust fund. In addition to extending current payroll tax relief, our plan will also extend pro-growth tax relief for businesses of all sizes while also advancing several bipartisan measures that will directly support the creation of private-sector jobs, including the Keystone XL energy pipeline. Charge: Republicans are cutting Medicare for current seniors when they said for months they would not do that. Response: The House Republican budget secures and strengthens Medicare for current seniors and future generations without affecting the retirement benefits of those 55 or over, but Democrats rejected it. Given the dire need to take steps toward reform of the biggest drivers of the nations debt, we included a policy President Obama himself proposed that would reduce the subsidy that the wealthiest Americans receive for their health care. Even President Obama has said that The major driver of our long-term liabilities, everybody here knows, is Medicare and Medicaid and our health care spending. Nothing comes close. Charge: Congress is forcing seniors to pay more for their Medicare. Response: We included a policy in this legislation, which was offered by President Obama, to reduce the subsidy that the wealthiest Americans receive for their health care. Warren Buffet should not get a government check for a check-up.

This improvement will strengthen the financial stability of the Medicare program by reducing the federal subsidy of Medicare costs for those beneficiaries who can most afford them. These reductions are an incremental step in turning the ship ever so slowly to gain control over a program expected to cost over a trillion dollars by the end of this decade. Moreover, doing so is already a bipartisan policy; both Republicans (Medicare Modernization Act of 2003) and Democrats (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010) have enacted similar policies into law. In this context, it represents a new responsible direction for Medicare as we act to save and strengthen the program for current and future generations. As proposed by the Obama Administration, beginning in 2017, this proposal would increase the number of Medicare beneficiaries subject to income-related premiums for Part B and Part D. Specifically, it proposes to increase premiums by 15 percent and maintain income thresholds until 25 percent of beneficiaries are subject to these premiums.