Congressman Smith visits Third District communities
Congressman Smith visits Third District communities
By Forrest HershbergerSIDNEY – Congressman Adrian Smith is touring the Third Congressional District of Nebraska, making a stop in Sidney this morning.
Congressman Smith serves on the Ways and Means Committee. The Ways and Means Committee is the chief tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives.
“When we’re out of Session I like to be around the Third District, and we have 80 counties across Nebraska, so getting to visit with folks on the front lines, I enjoy doing that. It’s an important part of my job as well. Hearing from them, you know, they’re, they’re living with the policies that come out of Washington,” Congressman Smith said.
He said he wants to ensure there is good dialogue with voters.
“In July we passed the Working Families Tax Cuts Bill. Other folks call it the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ Fact of the matter is, it helps families. In many ways, whether its education, families empowering families to make decisions on their children’s education more effectively and kind of a tax component to that for scholarships. We have scenarios for growing our economy. That’s what’s so important, that we have a tax policy that grows our economy,” he said.
Congressman Smith said to address the debt the U.S. is facing, the economy needs to grow. He said that is what brings in more revenue. He added spending also needs addressed.
“We’re not going to balance things by just slashing away at the budget,” he said.
He added eliminating duplications is critical. Smith said some people support the “tax our way into balance” approach. He said it doesn’t work.
“There’s this thing called The Law of Diminishing Returns. The higher you grow taxes, the less economic growth there is likely to be, and so finding that sweet spot I think is what we have been doing. What we did in 2017, has been shown to be very productive,” he said.
It was first established in 1789, and reappointed in 1795, then formally listed as a standing committee in the House Rules in 1802.
The committee’s jurisdiction until 1865 focused on revenue, appropriations, and banking. Since then, the committee has had jurisdiction over taxes and revenue-raising, as well as tariffs, trade agreements and bonded debt of the U.S.