7/19/2010 -

(ATLANTA, GA) – In last night’s final Atlanta Press Club debate between the candidates in Georgia’s 9th District, U.S. Rep. Tom Graves stuck to his message of less government, lower taxes and empowering the taxpayer as the solutions for getting America back on course.

Despite repeated attacks from his primary challengers, Rep. Graves kept his focus on the issues and solutions he is pursing in Congress, and said we need to get spending under control in Washington.

Rep. Graves, who was sworn in as the 9th District Congressman 33 days ago, has been an outspoken critic of the print, borrow and spend mentality coming out of Washington and used his first speech from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to tell Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress "it's time to curb spending, balance the budget and empower the people."

The Republican from Ranger said he was concerned with higher taxes, including the taxes that will go up across the board when the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire at the end of this year. Rep. Graves supports U.S. Rep. John Linder’s FairTax proposal and is a co-sponsor of the legislation in Congress.

Rep. Graves said he supports repealing ObamaCare and that he’s co-sponsored legislation to do so. He was the 9th of well over 100 congressmen who've signed a discharge petition to bring the "repeal it" legislation to the floor of the U.S. House for an up or down vote.

The newest member of the U.S. House of Representatives told viewers and the crowd gathered at the Georgia Public Broadcasting studio in Atlanta that he hit the ground running in Washington.

Since being sworn-in, Rep. Graves voted to audit the Federal Reserve and is pushing for strong, anti-illegal immigration reforms such as ending birth-right citizenship and empowering local law enforcement to crack down on those unlawfully present in our country.

Congressional challengers who joined the incumbent Congressman last night were Lee Hawkins and Steve Tarvin. Hawkins finished a distant second behind Rep. Graves in the two previous elections, and is challenging him for a third time. Tarvin failed to make the runoff, finishing third in the May 11th Special Election, over 20 points behind Rep. Graves.

Since his election to Congress last month, Rep. Graves’ re-election campaign has been on a roll.

Rep. Graves has won all 9th District GOP and tea party straw polls and since his June 8th election he has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, Georgia Right to Life, Family Research Council, Campaign for Working Families and Concerned Women of America.

FreedomWorks, RedState’s Erick Erickson, the Club for Growth PAC, Jim Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project, Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, Republican Whip Eric Cantor, House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence, Congressman Patrick McHenry and the House Conservative Fund, Congressman Paul Ryan and former 9th District candidates Bert Loftman and Eugene Moon have also endorsed Graves.

Last week Rep. Graves reported $197,457 raised in just 40 short days, which was more than all his challengers combined.

For more information about Congressman Graves and his re-election campaign, visit www.GravesForCongress.org.