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Tanner touts provision

Tanner touts provision

Posted: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 9:42 pm
By: Washington

  WASHINGTON — Con-gressman John Tanner said the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is important to protect Tennessee families’ retirement funds from drastic drops. 

He wrote a provision included in the negotiated bill that ensures any federal investment from the American taxpayers be recovered.

“Our ‘recoupment’ clause shifts the burden away from the American taxpayer so that in the long run, any investment of federal dollars will be recovered,” he said. “As we in the Blue Dog Coalition have talked about for years, our nation’s fiscal outlook is bleak. It is imperative that the cost of this package be recovered without adding an additional hundreds of billions of dollars to our federal debt.

He said he is convinced that federal inaction would be disastrous for families’ retirement accounts.

“Individuals’ 401k accounts, IRAs and state and local pension funds could rapidly lose stability if we do not take steps to assist our economic infrastructure,” said Tanner, who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. “I understand and share the frustration of American taxpayers about the need for this legislation.

“However, the danger of double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment, much higher interest rates and devalued retirement funds is just too great a risk to take with our economy.”
Published in The Messenger 9.30.08