Black Says Constituents Were Mixed Over Debt Deal

Tennessee Congressman Diane Black says her constituents were mixed on supporting this week’s budget ceiling deal. Black was among six of Tennessee’s nine representatives to vote in favor of the eleventh-hour compromise. She held a telephone town hall meeting Tuesday night.

Black says some constituents didn’t want a Congressional fight over the deficit at all. Others felt the deal Republicans extracted didn’t go far enough, and that Black should have voted to let the U.S. government default on its debt.

“We’ve had all the way from people saying that they believe that we ought to just shut the government down completely to people saying ‘You should’ve just given the president a blank vote on the debt ceiling without any other factors related to it.’”

Asked about the prospect of raising taxes on the wealthy and big business, Black says tax reform is needed to delete exemptions and loopholes. She says this fall the Ways and Means Committee, of which Black is a member, will propose a simplified tax code.

Black says she also wants to get rid of cumbersome government mandates, arguing that will create new jobs. That debate is far from settled; opponents attribute rising unemployment to feeble consumer demand – made worse by government cuts.