Republican Tim Murphy, a U.S. representative for the 18th District of Pennsylvania, released the following statement on Monday in response to President Barack Obama's call to allow the United States' 2001-03 tax rates to expire.

Pennsylvania's 18th District covers Peters Township.

"With 23 million Americans looking for a job, allowing a tax increase to take effect on Jan. 1 would be catastrophic," Murphy said, "so I don't disagree with taking action now to stop the pending tax hike on middle-class families struggling to make ends meet in this jobless economy.

"In fact, I urge the president to go even further and join Congress in eliminating all pending tax hikes set to burden middle-class Americans, including the 21 new taxes included in his health care law."

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