Americans rang in
the New Year with hopes of peace and prosperity, goodwill, and
resolutions to help improve themselves and their communities in
2006. Such New Year’s resolutions are a way for us to set
worthy goals for ourselves. They are also a way for Congress to
set goals and priorities for the nation. Here are some resolutions
I believe Congress should make.
Resolution one: Congress
should permanently extend the Patriot Act. While Congress should
review the administration’s recently revealed surveillance
program, it must also resolve to support rather than impede the
President as he carries out his Constitutional duty to protect
the nation.
The Bush administration’s
success in preventing additional attacks in the four-and-a-half
years since terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 innocent Americans
may encourage complacency. Indeed, an administration that was
once criticized for failing to “connect the dots”
is now being criticized for doing too much to intercept communications
with al Qaeda.
Unfortunately, some
Senators used revelations of the administration’s limited
surveillance program as an excuse to block renewal of the vital
anti-terror tools contained in the Patriot Act. As a result, Congress
passed only a short-term extension of the Act through early February.
Resolution two: Congress
should continue strengthening border enforcement, consider a streamlined
temporary worker program to meet our nation’s labor needs,
and reject amnesty for those who have entered the country illegally.
We must secure our
borders against illegal immigration. Before Congress adjourned
last year, it approved significant new resources I sought for
border enforcement, including an additional 1,000 Border Patrol
agents (on top of funding already in place for 500 new agents),
$1.4 billion for additional detention capacity, $1.3 billion for
investigations and intelligence programs, $65 million for additional
infrastructure in Arizona alone, and $3.3 billion for first responder
grants and assistance, including implementation of the REAL ID
Act to make it harder for illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s
licenses. This funding complements the more than doubling of Border
Patrol agents that I’ve helped secure since 1996.
The House of Representatives
approved a tough immigration enforcement bill before the end of
2005, and the Senate plans to take up similar legislation soon.
Resolution three:
Congress should permanently extend the tax reforms that have turned
our economy around.
Congress and the President
must take steps to ensure that our economy remains strong. Last
week, the Labor Department reported that applications for unemployment
benefits dropped to their lowest level since September of 2000.
Gross Domestic Product grew a robust 4.1 percent in the third
quarter, and economists are predicting that the economy will continue
growing at a solid pace throughout 2006 - if tax policies remain
in place.
The economy’s
solid performance is due in large part to the 2003 reductions
in income tax rates and capital-gains and dividend tax rates that
have spurred business investment, expansion, and job creation.
Since these tax-rate changes were enacted in 2003, our economy
has created 4.5 million new jobs. In all, the Treasury Department
estimates that 105 million Americans, including 1.9 million Arizonans,
pay less in taxes because of these tax policies.
The problem is, the
tax cuts are set to expire during the next few years, and, if
they do, taxpayers will see their annual tax bills rise an average
of $1,184 - the largest tax increase in history. Congress must
not allow this to happen.
Resolution four: Congress
should work on a bipartisan basis to implement the new Medicare
law effectively to make prescription drugs available and affordable
to seniors who need them.
Having helped draft
the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit, I was encouraged by
recent reports that an estimated 21 million seniors began receiving
the benefit as of January 1. As with any new program of such massive
size and scope, there will undoubtedly be glitches as it is initially
implemented. But it is incumbent upon all of us to help seniors
understand the new benefit, decide which plan is right for them,
and solve problems as they arise. Seniors needing assistance should
call my office, or call Medicare directly at 1-800-MEDICARE.
Sen.
Kyl serves on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees and
chairs the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Visit his website
at www.kyl.senate.gov.
