Bill Nelson wants to know what you think, again. Let's tell him!

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Dear Friends,

In an opinion piece I penned for today’s POLITCO, below, there’s a specific solution to the nation’s economic woes. We have to stop the partisan finger pointing. And we have to realize we can’t just cut our way out of this mess. Take a look and let me know what you think via an e-mail under the “economy” topic. Thanks.

Close the tax loopholes

"There’s no mystery about what we have to do. It’s just common sense. In addition to the spending cuts Congress just made, we need tax reform. And by tax reform, I mean closing loopholes, special interest tax breaks and corporate subsidies. It’s just plain wrong to be protecting tax breaks for oil companies and to be rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas." - Sen. Bill Nelson

By: Sen. Bill Nelson
August 10, 2011

After watching Standard & Poor’s performance in the Enron and housing debacles, it’s hard to stomach their decision to downgrade America’s credit.

But even coming from S&P, there is a message we should hear: The finger pointing and hyper-partisanship has to stop. If it doesn’t, we really will be on the road to ruin.

Democrats need to see tea partiers as something other than debt-limit hostage-taking Republicans. And Republicans need to see President Barack Obama and Democrats as something other than big-spending socialists.

We’ve got to stop this attack madness. We have to bring civility back to the public square. We have to put the country back on the path to fiscal sanity.

To do that, we need to cut some $4 trillion to $5 trillion. We made a down payment on this with the $2 trillion dollars we cut just last week. Now we need to go further.

To understand what we have to do, though, we first need to look at how we got here.

We went from a $236 billion budget surplus in 2000 to a $1.3 trillion deficit last year — and a record $14 trillion debt. A huge chunk of the debt comes from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re bringing the troops home.

Another significant piece stems from the Bush-era tax cuts. Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, says the tax cuts for the wealthy should be left to expire. They’re set to do so at the end of next year. We should let that happen.

Agree or not, don’t you think most Americans were better off before the tax cuts than they are now?

Much of the rest of the debt comes from the economic downturn since 2008.

That brings us to today. And there’s no mystery about what we have to do. It’s just common sense. In addition to the spending cuts Congress just made, we need tax reform.

And by tax reform, I mean closing loopholes, special interest tax breaks and corporate subsidies. It’s just plain wrong to be protecting tax breaks for oil companies and to be rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas.

As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee’s Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth Subcommittee, I’ve scheduled a hearing for early September to investigate closing many of these loopholes. Doing so will likely generate $2 trillion over the next decade. Add that to the $2 trillion in spending cuts we’ve made — and we’re in the $4 trillion range that we need to hit.

It’s time to stop the shouting and bickering and political attacks. It’s time to show the world that America can take care of business.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is a member of the Senate Finance and Budget committees.

© 2011 POLITICO LLC

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Comment by Theresa Pletcher on August 11, 2011 at 3:43pm: Love it Doyle :)

Comment by Robert E. Walker on August 11, 2011 at 10:37am: Please give Florida a big kiss by leaving, "you have screwed us enough"

Comment by Doyle on August 11, 2011 at 9:22am: Senator Nelson,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your opinion piece in the Politico. Aside from regurgitating every talking point the Democrats have been employing, it said absolutely nothing new.

If I may be so bold, please allow me to make a few suggestions:

Stop claiming that it's only right that millionaires and billionaires pay more Federal taxes when we all know that the proposed tax increases will hit individuals making $200,000; households, $250,000. I don't know anyone making even close to those amounts, but using that message indicates your belief that were all stupid and uninformed.

Stop using Warren Buffet as an example of a rich person who wants to pay more taxes, can afford to pay more taxes, so it's only fair that taxes should be increased on the so-called "wealthy." If he wants more of his money to go to the Federal government, he can simply write a check for what he believes is a proper amount and make it payable as a "Gift to the United States." (The instructions and mailing address are available online.)

Stop blaming Bush. Just stop it!

Have you gone to Harry Reid and asked him to untable Cut Cap and Balance as I asked you to do in my last email? I thought not.

Has the Senate of which you are a member passed a budget? Even brought one up for a vote?

No.

But, you do you have time to write an opinion piece for Politico that says ... nothing new.

2012 is coming, Senator.

Comment by mark sawyer on August 11, 2011 at 9:20am: Maybe Nelson can get a job working for Warren Buffett, who was able to buy a big chunk of GM with a 10% guaranteed return.

Comment by Bert Cordwell on August 11, 2011 at 8:58am: I told him if you cut loophole, the corporations will just raise their prices so the (Rat favorite phrase) "Middle Class" will have to pay more for goods.

I also told him to check with Marco on how we should do business as he set lurch Kerry straight recently.

Comment by John Thompson on August 11, 2011 at 2:06am: Senator Nelson,

You are doing another emailing soliciting my opinion, and I am sure my vote as well. So you will know, I called your office prior to the last vote and spoke with your obviously overworked staffers. I made no bones about what I wanted you to do sir and asked your staffer to repeat it to me to make sure there were no misunderstandings. And, just in case that didn't get interpreted to you accurately, I also followed up with a detailed email stating exactly what I expected from you sir. That was simply to do the right thing and vote for "Cut, Cap and Balance".

The end result was the same as I always receive from you.....Nothing!!

You sir ignored my input, as well as similar input from many of your constituents and simply voted the "Party Line"..!! The Democrat Party Line..!! Your description in this correspondence about Republicans seeing you, your fellow party members and President Obama as "....big-spending socialists..." sir is really far too kind of a description. TRUST ME ON THAT...!!

As far as your question about most Americans being better off before the Bush tax cuts, I must simply respond that in my humble opinion, that you sir are still out there in one of those capsules somewhere... Time to return to earth and see what "you and yours" have done here. It ain't nothing to be proud of, I can assure you..!! My simple answer is ....NO WAY was I better off then...!!

You and yours can also pack up that "funny smoke & mirrors math" that y'all constantly blow at us too. There are only promised cuts and no reductions in spending. Mr. Nelson, a trillion dollars is 1,000 billion and it's shameful that you people blow through it in about 90 days. By the way, as I told POTUS in my email to him. It's really time that all of you "big-spending Democrat socialists" (your term) up there in DC "MAN-UP" and own this stinking economy that you have created. It's really beneath you to continue to blame it on the former administration.

You have "owned" both houses of Congress since 2006 (until we corrected the House of Reps. last year) and the White House since 2008. You have violated the constitution and have not produced or passed a budget in over 820 days or so now in the Senate. The budget proposed by your president went down in flames and as I recall, it was so bad that YOU didn't even vote for it. The biggest part of the $1.3 trillion debt that you mention as accrued since 2000 was due to the excessive spending under the current administration, not in the previous 8 years.

Before I close here Senator Nelson, I have just one question to ask you sir;

Just how does it feel to have to back up to receive your paycheck...???

I never in my working life had to back up to my boss to get paid..!!

I did my job sir, you should try doing yours..!!

Regards,

John Thompson,

"A PROUD TEA-BAGGER"

Comment by Theresa Pletcher on August 10, 2011 at 9:10pm: Hopefully people will study him this time and realize they are NOT voting for a Navy Pilot or an Astronaut but a senile old geezer that dishonors the Constitution with every single vote and ONLY voted the party line!

Comment by Alice & Terry Beutien on August 10, 2011 at 8:58pm: Col. Mike McCalister is a conservative candidate that we can all get behind. Check him out. You will like what you see & hear.

http://www.mikemccalisterforsenate.com/

Comment by H W Schroeder AXCS(AW) USNRET on August 10, 2011 at 8:53pm: WHAT, AGAIN? How many petition signatures did we deliver to him about the stimulus and health care bills? I recall saying to his Jacksonville staff NOT TO PATRONISE US (THE TEA PARTY) and what did he do? He completely ignored us! NOW he suggests stopping the bickering and political attacks? Whith his statement about 'ending loopholes', how the hell did he EVER qualify to be on the Senate Finance and Budget Committees? I'll write him again and Billie, I'll send you a copy if you wish! It will NOT be pretty!

Comment by Alice & Terry Beutien on August 10, 2011 at 8:51pm: My message to Sen. Nelson...

Sen. Nelson,

You asked for your constituent’s opinion and you stated, "...you think most Americans were better off before the tax cuts than they are now?" The simple truth is we Americans were all much better off in 2006 before the Democrats gained control of Congress. It has been a steady downward trend from the day Nancy Pelosi "owned" the gavel in the House. You, you’re Democratic AND the Republican colleagues need to take Economics 101 and get educated. If you want help, call! Do you need to be reminded who you work for? Remember your oath to uphold & defend the constitution? You are ALL doing a miserable job! Your miss-handling of our great nation's economy is costing "we the people" way too much. We will work incredibly hard to make sure you do not win your 2012 election. That you can count on!

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