WASHINGTON—Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement regarding today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Continued Oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”

 “Today’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the federal government’s use of its surveillance authorities highlighted many of the concerns I have expressed with respect to the scope and breadth of government collection of information on Americans,” Senator Lee said.  “The Fourth Amendment’s protection against ‘unreasonable searches and seizures’ is designed to prevent against precisely the kind of suspicionless fishing expeditions that the government is currently carrying out under its telephony metadata collection program.  Only by narrowing the statutory authorities the government purports to justify this highly intrusive surveillance of innocent Americans can we restore the proper constitutional balance. 

“We must also increase the transparency with which the nation’s surveillance programs operate.  Unless we take steps to restore credibility and public confidence in these programs, we risk not only violating individual privacy, but also harming the competitiveness of important economic interests in the technology and telecommunications industries, including many Utah based companies, that rely on public trust.  I believe more information about how these programs operate can be made public without endangering national security.” 

“I have worked in the past with Chairman Leahy and other colleagues to introduce important legislation on these topics.  I look forward to continuing to work with Chairman Leahy to introduce legislation to narrow controversial surveillance authorities, enhance government oversight of surveillance programs, and increase transparency.”

Here is what others are saying about the pro-growth, pro-family tax reform plan that Senator Lee introduced at AEI:

Tea Party Communitarian

by Johathan Coppage | The American Conservative

For a GOP long seen as the party of entrenched financial interests, populist credibility must be won back, and a deregulation agenda alone won’t cut it. This is where Lee’s rugged communitarianism is especially vital to his cause.

Mike Lee Introduces Pro-Growth, Pro-Middle-Class Tax Reform

by Patrick Brennen | National Review Online

Today at AEI, Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced an idea that’s been missing in Congress for a long time: A conservative tax-reform plan that aims to improve opportunity and reduce the bias against families inherent in the U.S. tax code.

It would significantly simplify how individual income taxes work, and result in a large tax cut on families with children, especially married ones: The system would be reduced to just two brackets — 15 percent on all income below $87,850 (at which the rate currently jumps from 25 percent to 28 percent) and 35 percent on all income above that. Most interestingly, though, it would provide much more compensation in the tax code for raising children: “The centerpiece” of the plan, as Lee put it, is a $2,500 tax credit per child under the age of 16, which would reduce what parents owe in income taxes dollar-for-dollar, and if that’s reduced to zero, what they owe in payroll taxes, too. (The tax code currently provides a combination of a tax deduction for children, which only reduces the amount of one’s income that’s subject to the income tax and isn’t, for most couples, nearly as valuable per dollar, and a smaller tax credit.) ….

“For a political party too often seen as out of touch, aligned with the rich, indifferent to the less fortunate, and uninterested in solving the problems of working families, Republicans could not ask for a more worthy cause around which to build a new conservative reform agenda,” Lee said today. He’s right, and it’s heartening to see a concrete proposal for it introduced in Congress, especially by Lee — a key proponent of the conservative defund-Obamacare effort who was elected in the 2010 tea-party wave.

That might esuggest, to the most optimistic among us, that we can expect plenty more conservative, pro-growth, middle-class-friendly innovations to come.

Leading on Tax Reform

The Editorial Board | National Review

Yesterday Senator Mike Lee, the Utah conservative, announced an ambitious plan to reform taxes — much the most attractive one we have heard from any Republican for a long time.

The plan would cut tax rates, simplify the tax code, and rid it of several features that distort our economy and society. The tax increases that have taken place under President Obama would be undone. The mortgage-interest deduction would be scaled back. And the deduction for state and local taxes would be eliminated: Low-tax states would no longer subsidize high-tax ones, and the federal government would no longer soften voters’ incentives to elect less-profligate state politicians….

With this plan, the senator has taken an important step toward limiting government, promoting growth, and creating a conservative electoral majority. 

Can Republicans become the party of the people?

by Timothy P. Carney | The Washington Examiner

Some conservative Republicans are beginning to get it.

“Today … we find the underprivileged trapped in poverty, sometimes for generations,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Tuesday. “We find the middle class caught on a treadmill, running harder every year. ...”….

First, Lee’s plan isn’t a flat tax. He calls for a 15 percent rate and 35 percent rate. He puts much more emphasis on making the tax code clean and simple – eliminating deductions, streamlining returns – than on flatness. This tacitly accepts the notion of a progressive income tax code. He’s agreeing that the rich ought to pay a higher portion.

Along the same lines, Lee’s tax plan would cap the mortgage interest deduction at $300,000. Most homeowners would see no difference, but lobbyists living in Northwest Washington and Chevy Chase would see their deductions shrink.

Most importantly, Lee rejects the notion, persistent among some conservatives, that there’s something bad about knocking low-income families off the tax rolls. The centerpiece of Lee’s bill is an expanded child tax credit that would not only reduce income taxes to zero, but also offset payroll taxes….

Lee said the U.S. economy is increasingly “rigged for big government, big business, and big special interests. And rigged against the ordinary citizens and forgotten families who work hard, play by the rules, and live within their means.”

Remember, this sort of talk isn’t coming from the squishy center, but from the Red Meat Right – from Utah, to be precise. And it could represent a much-needed libertarian-populist wave in the GOP because it comes from the same well from which the Tea Party sprung.

Lee came to Washington by beating the GOP establishment and K Street in his 2010 primary against “Bailout Bob” Bennett. Others who won in similar fashion – with the lobbyist and business PAC money aligned against them – include Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Pat Toomey.

If Lee's ideas gain steam, we could see a Tea Party for the People. 

Making Parenthood Pay: Should Washington Pay Parents to Raise Future Taxpayers?

W. Bradford Wilcox | The Atlantic

To help American families, Senator Mike Lee is proposing a $2500 child tax credit that would apply to both income and payroll taxes (above and beyond existing child deductions and the $1000 child tax credit). Because many working-class and poor families pay little or no federal income tax, his focus on payroll taxes would put real money in the hands of these families. As sociologist Andrew Cherlin and I wrote in a recent policy brief for the Brookings Institution, a policy move like this is likely to: “increase marriage rates and marital stability among low- and moderate-income families who would benefit from the economic security such a policy would provide to their family finances. It would also signal to them that the nation values the parental investments they are making in the next generation, who—it should be noted—will be helping cover the cost of Social Security and Medicare in the near future.” Indeed, experimental efforts to boost the income of working parents in Minnesota and Wisconsin have been linked to higher marriage rates and lower divorce rates among low-income couples.

Senator Lee’s proposal is only one step in the right direction. But what’s particularly encouraging about his proposal is that it would lift the sagging economic fortunes of many working-class families by targeting their payroll taxes. Let’s hope more Republicans (and Democrats) take a page from Lee’s playbook and seek policies that renew the flagging economic fortunes of family life in all too many of our nation’s poor and working class communities. Without strengthening these foundations, the United States is not likely to see the institution of marriage—and the stability, security, and opportunity it offers to the nation’s children—on the mend in the very communities that need marriage the most.

Sen. Mike Lee's plan to bolster middle-class parents

by Reihan Salam | Reuters

It is worth noting that Mike Lee isn’t exactly the most likely messenger for family-friendly tax reform. He first emerged on the national scene when he challenged three-term incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett, a Republican widely lauded for his willingness to work across the aisle, in a hard-fought primary race. Lee, a constitutional lawyer with a distinguished resume, ran as a Tea Party stalwart. As a senator, he has led the fight for a balanced budget amendment and against new gun control laws. Most recently, he has rallied Senate conservatives around the idea of defunding the Affordable Care Act, an effort that has been condemned by the Wall Street Journal editorial page and key members of the congressional Republican leadership as reckless and irresponsible. No one questions Lee’s conservative bona fides. What is new is Lee’s willingness to venture outside of his comfort zone. While many leading Republicans have insisted that conservatives do more to better the lives of middle-income voters — the bedrock of the GOP coalition — Lee is actually putting his money where his mouth is with his new tax plan.

Conservatives will find much to like in Lee’s plan. Though it is not a flat tax, an idea Lee has championed in the past, it does reduce the tax code from seven individual income tax rates to two, set at 15 percent and 35 percent. The first rate applies to income up to $87,850 for single filers and $175,700 for joint filers, and the second applies to all income above those thresholds. As of 2010, a single filer earning $87,850 would find herself in the 95th percentile of individual earners, while a married couple earning $175,700 would find themselves in the 87th percentile of married households. The plan also eliminates the taxes included in the Affordable Care Act and the Alternative Minimum Tax, the goal being to improve incentives to work and save.

If Lee left it at that, his plan would closely resemble every other Republican tax reform of the last decade. But the heart of the proposal is a new $2,500 per-child tax credit, which can be used to offset payroll taxes as well as income taxes. This is on top of the existing $1,000 child tax credit, which Lee leaves in place, along with a number of other tax benefits for low-income parents. In one stroke, large numbers of middle-income households with children will be removed from the federal income tax rolls altogether….

What remains to be seen is whether other Republicans will follow Lee’s lead. In 2014, the GOP has a decent shot at winning a Senate majority, not least because the president and his Democratic allies have been struggling amidst a weak recovery. Winning, however, will require convincing middle-income voters that Republicans are looking out for their interests. Getting behind an expanded child tax credit would be a great way to deliver that message.

Amazing

by Pete Spiliakos | First Things

I can't say enough good things about this speech on family-friendly tax reform by Utah Senator Mike Lee. It is a beautifully written argument for a Republican tax agenda that prioritizes the interests of middle-class and struggling working parents/ Lee's speech also contains some powerful but very civil criticisms of the ideas underlying Romney's 47%  commend and Rand Paul's flat tax proposal. Lee's identity as an insurgent, constitutionalist, Tea Partier allows him to position middle-class-oriented populism as authentically conservative. This is a huge step toward making the GOP a more middle-class-friendly party.

FINALLY: A Republican Tax Plan That Doesn't Suck

by Josh Barro | Business Insider

Credit where it's due: Lee is out with a new tax plan that's much better and actually addresses the needs of the middle class. Unusually for Republican tax plans, his new plan cuts taxes for the middle class and finances that with a tax increase on the wealthy.

Republicans usually get caught in a trap on tax policy. They feel they need to sharply cut the top income tax rate, which means a tax cut for the rich. Then they have to pay for that somehow, and they end up calling for tax increases on the middle class. Then, if they're Mitt Romney, they try to deny it.

Lee's new plan avoids that trap by going for simplification through the elimination of deductions and credits (a good idea) but retaining a graduated rate structure. Lee would have two income tax rates: 15% for most filers, and 35% for incomes over $87,850 ($175,700 for married couples.) The standard deduction would be replaced with a standard credit of $2,000.

He would then give new, generous tax credits to people with young children. That would mean big tax cuts for middle-income families with children ($5,000 for a family of four earning $51,000, Lee says).

Why Republicans Should Embrace FFOTRA

by Reihan Salam | National Review Online

FFOTRA represents a significant departure from traditional GOP tax policy. But I can see it taking off among Republican candidates in 2014. To understand why, consider the subjective experience of middle-income voters in politically important states. The estimated U.S. median income for four-person families is $74,964. Then consider the estimated U.S. median income for four-person families in the states where the GOP hopes to make gains in U.S. Senate races next year: South Dakota ($69,221), West Virginia ($60,825), Montana ($69,221), Arkansas ($56,975), Alaska ($86,658), Louisiana ($66,896), Kentucky ($64,119), North Carolina ($66,978), Georgia ($67,276), and Iowa ($73,972). These numbers don’t tell us much in themselves, but in 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce constructed stylized household budgets for three married-couple two-parent two-child families a the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of the income distribution respectively. It should go without saying that these families represent a minority of all household types, but they represent roughly a fifth of all U.S. households and a larger share of all voters….

Ultimately, middle-income tax cuts aren’t the best way to improve the economic position of low- and middle-income households. Rather, we need policies that are designed to increase long-term growth and achieve full employment. But measures like FFOTRA can make a positive long-term difference, and they promise palpable benefits for a large number of Americans. FFOTRA will give GOP candidates a meaningful way to talk about the anxieties plaguing middle-income families, and it offers a solid foundation for other proposals designed to attack worklessness. This is a big deal.

Finally, A Tax Plan That Will Help Republicans

by Ramesh Ponnuru | Bloomberg

Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, has a new proposal for tax reform that includes an expansion of the child tax credit. Elsewhere I have defended this idea. Here I want to talk about why it's an important political step for Republicans.

Expanding the child credit is popular. In May, the Republican polling company McLaughlin and Associates asked likely voters what they thought of expanding the current $1,000-per-child credit to $4,000, which is similar to Lee's plan. The results: 58 percent approved, 32 percent disapproved. Slightly more people "strongly approved" (33 percent) than disapproved at all. That's more support than Republicans get for many of the tax cuts they promote, such as the one on capital gains.

Strong Families and American Renewal

Strengthening Families through Tax Reform

But, bottom line: Raising kids is an investment in America’s future just as much as buying new machinery for a business is. “Some people say, ‘Well, maybe we shouldn’t allow expensing of plant equipment,’” Stein says. “And I think that’s kind of ridiculous. It’s an investment, just like raising kids is an investment. And we ought to treat them roughly equally.”

So time for a “human capital”–gains tax cut — and a Republican agenda that seeks to strengthen American families.

Defending the Child Credit

You’re more likely to get pro-growth reforms if they’re coupled with something as popular as an expanded child credit. And Lincicome is right that an expanded credit wouldn’t be large enough to get people to have kids they don’t want. It might, however, help people who want kids to have them.

Geographic Mobility As A Cure For Income Mobility

by Lori Sanders | Politix

Thankfully, some Republicans are now stepping forward with new plans to address the issue that focus on incentives to work and enticements to form and maintain stable families. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), has put forward a plan to significantly increase the child tax credit. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has offered plans to block grant aid to the states and to restructure the Earned Income Tax Credit as a periodic wage subsidy.