House Leadership Puts Partisan Politics Ahead of Working Families

Senator Kenneth Corn and Representative Terry Harrison say they are outraged at the reckless behavior of the Republican Leadership in the House who refused to give a bill a hearing in committee that would exempt all state income taxes paid on overtime wages.

“Oklahomans work countless hours of overtime each year only to see a huge chunk of those wages chipped away by taxes,” Corn said. “If Oklahomans are working longer hours away from their families they should be able to keep all wages they earn.”

Corn, a Democrat from Poteau, said the Republican Leadership’s refusal to give the bill a hearing was nothing more than putting politics above the needs of working families in Oklahoma.

“Republicans say they are the party of family values, yet they refuse to hear a bill that would have placed money back into the pockets of working families throughout Oklahoma,” said Corn, Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. “Their record simply does not match their rhetoric.”

Rep. Harrison explained because of the new rules in the House passed by the new Republican majority on the first day of session, using a floor amendment to get the measure to a vote of the full House of Representatives was not an option.

“The Republican Leadership has acted recklessly and without regard for working families by not allowing a vote on this bill,” Harrison, a Democrat from McAlester, said. “I simply cannot understand why they would want to vote against working families.”

Corn said he will attempt to add a floor amendment to a House bill in order to get a vote on the measure. If it passes off the Senate floor it goes back to the House where they can either accept or reject the Senate amendments.

“It makes sense to cut taxes for those Oklahomans that need the help the most and if we get this amendment through the Senate we are sending a message to all Oklahomans that says we value the hard work they do,” the Senator said. “Putting money back into the pockets of working families will make a better tomorrow for our children.”

“Working families deserve a fair vote on a measure that will exempt all state income taxes paid on overtime wages, not an extreme partisan snub in the face,” Harrison concluded.