The Republican Main Street Partnership Urges the House to Pass the Financial Stabilization Act

Statement of Former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton, Chairman of the Board of RMSP

Contact: Chris Barron
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Former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton, Chairman of the Board of RMSP – “This new bill is a significant improvement over the bill that failed in the House on Monday. The House should follow the bipartisan lead of the Senate and approve this critical piece of legislation."

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Republican Main Street Partnership, the largest organization of elected centrists in the country, urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Financial Stabilization Act just approved by the Senate. “This new bill is a significant improvement over the bill that failed in the House on Monday,” said former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman of the Board of the Republican Main Street Partnership. Houghton is also the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Corning, a Fortune 500 company. “The House should follow the bipartisan lead of the Senate and approve this critical piece of legislation.”

Houghton pointed out that the Senate passed bill includes a package of critical tax extenders that were not in the version of the legislation that failed earlier this week. “The inclusion of the tax extenders is important – not just to Wall Street but to Main Street America,” continued Houghton.

Included in the package of tax extenders is an extension of the already lapsed Research and Development (R&D) tax credit that enjoys wide bipartisan support.

“The R&D tax credit, first created more than 25 years ago, spurs innovation, economic growth and the creation of high-paying jobs here in the U.S. The extension of this crucial tax credit, which expired at the end of 2007, is critical to the long term health of the American economy,” said Houghton.

“There reality is that there are no easy solutions to the challenges facing our economy and our financial markets today. We can not, however, simply sit back and do nothing. While this package may not be perfect, it does represent a significant improvement over the bill that failed on Monday and the House should move quickly to pass it,” concluded Houghton.

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The Republican Main Street Partnership (RMSP) is dedicated to promoting and building a pragmatic, thoughtful, fiscally conservative, and inclusive “Governing Majority,” where political debate is encouraged to promote solutions to improve the lives of all Americans. Embracing the full spectrum of center-right ideologies and values in order to build coalitions, RMSP is the largest organization of elected leaders who are in the mold of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. For more information on RMSP, visit our website at www.republicanmainstreet.org.