Kagen, Ribble on break, taxes

GREEN BAY - Members of Congress are now home to campaign before the November election. However, they left some unfinished business in Washington. That includes the tax cuts signed into law by former President George W. Bush. They are set to expire at the end of the year.

President Barack Obama and many Democrats want to renew the tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000 a year. But for those making more, they want the cuts to expire. Republicans want to keep the tax cuts for everyone. And they're calling out Democrats for deciding to leave before voting on the issue.

"Americans have every right to be fed up, and trust me, they are," said U.S. Rep. John Boeher, R-Ohio, Minority Leader. "But what I won't accept and what I refuse to accept, is that we can simply walk away and let our government continue to drift."

"The Republican strategy has been and continues to this day to create gridlock and failure. That's been their objective in the house and in the Senate. What was the result? They failed," said U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Majority Leader.

FOX 11 talked to U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen, D-8th District, and asked him and his Republican opponent Reid Ribble about congress taking a break from Washington.

Kagen is back home in northeast Wisconsin.

FOX 11 asked Kagen, "Why did you vote for Congress to take a break?" Kagen replied: "To make sure we can get something done here at home and also in Washington. In Washington it's the United States Senate where one senator can put a finger on a bill and stop the show."

Kagen says one of the things he's doing at home is working with state government, to get a bone marrow transplant for a boy.

Kagen's opponent Reid Ribble says if he were in Congress, he would have voted to continue work in Washington and finalize what kind of taxes the American people will be facing.

"They could have stayed there and got that work done," said Ribble. "The vote was like 210 to 209 or something, I just don't get it. When you add to it the fact that we still don't have a passed budget, it makes me wonder what Congress is up to."

The future of the so-called "Bush tax cuts" are one piece of business Congressional lawmakers left unfinished. Ribble thinks those cuts should be permanent.

"The idea to raise taxes to send money to the government for them to redistribute wherever they want it, and allow them to pick winners and losers, it makes no sense. Why not just leave the money in the people's hands? And that would inject some certainty into the job creating companies that are sitting here waiting to see what's going to happen. I think uncertainty is the biggest problem we have and all this does is play into it," said Ribble.

"I'm very much in favor of a middle class tax cut and before the end of this year I can guarantee you that you're going to have that middle class permanent tax cut enacted," said Kagen.

Kagen says those middle class cuts would apply to families with incomes of less than $250,000 a year, but would not offer more specifics.

FOX 11 asked Kagen: "In a perfect world, what would that tax cut be for those families that have an income of less than 250,000?"

Kagen responded: "We would renew the tax cuts for the middle class by the end of this year."

Kagen says he will be back in Washington in mid-October.