Rep. Miller Supports Bill to Avoid Fiscal Cliff, Calls for Spending Cuts Next

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 257-167 late Tuesday night to endorse a Senate vote on a bill that would avert the so-called "Fiscal Cliff." This bill extends the tax cuts passed during George W. Bush's presidency that would have expired on Jan. 1, and delays automatic spending cuts.

A complete list of the yeas and nays can be found on the website for the House of Representatives.

U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Congressional District 10, voted in favor of the bill, which will extend curent tax rates for all wage earners making below $400,000 and couples making below $450,000.

“The idea of allowing taxes to rise on every American family and small business was completely unacceptable to me and those who I serve," Miller said in a statement Tuesday. "Throughout this process my primary goal has been to limit how many Americans would be hit by higher taxes and the measure we passed today will stop income taxes from increasing for 98 percent of Americans."

The Senate legislation passed early Tuesday 89-8. The bill currently awaits President Barack Obama's signature.

In her statement Tuesday, Miller detailed a series of other benefits from the bill, including:

• Permanent relief for tens of millions of American taxpayers from the Alternative Minimum Tax, and relief and rate certainty for millions of American seniors who depend on dividends and capital gains income to help them enjoy a secure retirement.
• A much needed change to physician reimbursement rates under Medicare to make certain that seniors would still be able to see the doctor of their choice. "If this fix had not been enacted then many doctors may have stopped taking Medicare patients," Miller said.
• Permanent relief on the Death Tax. This tax was slated to rise to 55 percent on every estate above $1 million and this bill puts in place a 40 percent rate on estates above $5 million which will protect millions of family farms and small businesses from being forced to sell simply to pay an outrageous tax bill.
• A one-year extension of the Farm Bill. Failure to act on the Farm Bill would have caused prices to skyrocket for necessities like milk which would have been a stealth tax on every American family. "In the New Year we will begin consideration on a five year reauthorization of the Farm Bill and I am hopeful that we can find bipartisan agreement on a solid and forward looking national farm policy," Miller added.

Miller said while she was pleased with much of the bill, she remains concerned that it "did nothing to address the real driver of our debt which is out-of-control spending."

She added her hope that 2013 will be the year when the White House and both parties in Congress tackle this issue and "move forward toward dealing with the issue of our nation’s debt ceiling (by passing) fiscally responsible spending cuts and much needed reforms to the programs that are burying our nation under a mountain of debt.”