Congress members Barbara Lee & John Conyers

Congressional Black Caucus Opposes Tax Plan

WASHINGTON  Dec. 9, 2010 – California Rep. Barbara Lee, Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, has released the following statement after the Democratic Caucus meeting with Vice President Joe Biden:

“During the meeting, I informed Vice President Biden that the overwhelming majority of Congressional Black Caucus members are opposed to the current tax plan. We will have a specific proposal we would like to discuss with the administration. Congressman Bobby Scott and our taskforce are putting this together.

“We are opposed to the estate tax provision and extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus support extending unemployment benefits and provisions to create jobs, and we want to support something responsible.

“We understand there are tough choices that will need to be made next year and are extremely concerned that the cuts that could be made should this package pass will disproportionately hurt the poor and low-income communities, and may further erode the safety net.”