Georgia House Reps Vote "No"

All eight of Georgia’s Republican members in the U.S. House voted against emergency bipartisan legislation Tuesday that spared all but a sliver of America’s richest from sharp income tax hikes but sets up another “fiscal cliff” confrontation in a matter of weeks. The bill however passed the House and was approved by the Senate early Tuesday morning.

Haralson County’s new representative Tom Graves said yesterday that he voted no because “the bill offers no commitment to debt reduction, only a demand from taxpayers to bailout Washington. Without any spending reforms, the debt crisis continues.”

District Three Congressman Lynn Westmoreland said he was surprised that the Senate passed the bill so easily — with both of Georgia’s Republican Senators, Chambliss and Isakson, voting yes. He said “that was kind of a shock to us that they didn’t stand for some spending cuts.”