Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas -- Asserting its time to stop business as usual in Washington David Dewhurst declared his opposition earlier today to the payroll tax extension that recently passed by the U.S. Senate. The extension was an act of political expedience and will do little except make life easier for Washington politicians during an election year Dewhurst said.
Its time we stopped kicking the can down the road and began addressing the urgent issue of entitlement reform Dewhurst added.
Instead the Senate made a short-term political decision. In the process they blithely added billions to the deficit undercut the solvency of Social Security failed to address long-term entitlement problems and did almost nothing to reform the tax code create jobs or stimulate the economy.
Dewhurst said candidates for the U.S. Senate should declare how they would have voted on the payroll tax cut extension.
Texas two U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison both opposed the extension as did most conservative Republican members of the U.S. Senate. The deal was approved by the U.S. Senate in a vote earlier this month.
Dewhurst favors pro-growth tax cuts for individuals and business as part of his philosophy of encouraging investment job creation and reducing the size of government. But there is a major difference with payroll taxes which are levied 
with the specific purpose of funding Social Security.
The system essentially relies on payroll taxes from current workers paying for benefits of retirees and other Social Security program recipients. Last year the outlays from these payroll taxes exceeded payroll tax income for the first time in history.
If the Administration and Congress continue playing politics with the system they will threaten the solvency of the system.
Real solutions to this issue require difficult decisions and also requires leaders willing to stand up and say no to political expediency Dewhurst said.
I will fight to do in Washington what we do in Texas: balance our budget cut spending and taxes reduce government bureaucracy and create a favorable business climate that will encourage job creation.
