John Boehner - 8th District of Ohio

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Nov 21, 2008

Washington - As we enter the holiday season, there are countless families anxiously looking over their finances and wondering how they’ll pull through.  In Ohio, the Department of Jobs and Family Services announced that the unemployment rate in October went up to 7.4 percent.  This marks the first time since the recession in the early 1990s that the state’s unemployment rate has been at 7 percent or higher for four consecutive months.  Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that unemployment rose to 6.5 percent for the same month.

These numbers are a harsh reminder that families and small businesses are hurting, and we need to be careful not to adopt policies that will only deepen their pain.  The American people believe that cutting taxes for families and small businesses is more likely to stimulate the economy than increasing government spending on programs.

House Republicans have put forward a pro-economic-growth plan based on tax relief for families and small businesses, as well as a jobs-creating energy plan that will increase production of American oil and gas and promote the alternative and renewable sources that represent our energy future. Our rapid-recovery plan represents a clear departure from the recycled economic blueprints promoted by the Democrats who run Congress - schemes that predictably rely on more and more government spending.

Not too long ago, for example, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, signaled that a massive Washington spending package of up to $300 billion may be considered by Congress before the end of the year - under the guise of "economic stimulus." The centerpiece of the package was more spending on a variety of Washington programs, including a full slate of new highway construction programs. This is spending that non-partisan studies and noted economists have exposed as unlikely to create a substantial number of new, permanent jobs or boost the economy in a timely or meaningful way.

Our economic plan would do what Americans are asking Washington to do: Help get the economy back on track through pro-growth policies such as doubling the child tax credit; temporarily eliminate the capital-gains tax to help spur investment and rebuild 401(k)s; reduce the corporate tax rate to keep jobs here at home; and give small businesses more tax relief to purchase new equipment and hire more workers.

My plan also implements an "all of the above" energy strategy, including increased drilling, accelerated development and use of alternative and renewable fuels, and greater conservation and efficiency. These energy reforms would create up to one million new jobs and provide a real shot in the arm for our economy, including the auto industry, which has been pummeled along with the rest of the country by high energy prices.

I recently sent a letter to Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), who is the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will have a critical role regarding the viability of the auto industry that is facing a severe crisis and is asking the federal government for tens of billions of taxpayer dollars in new government aid.  This is a matter of great concern not just to taxpayers, but also to the many Ohioans who work in the auto industry or have jobs connected with it.

I am very concerned about Chairman Waxman’s support of legislation that would allow his home state of California to impose stricter automobile regulations than the country as a whole.  This change would effectively bar the American auto manufacturers from competing in the largest market in our country unless the manufacturers make significant changes that would increase consumer costs.  Those increases would make the “Big 3” American auto companies even less competitive and level job-killing government mandates against an industry already in danger of collapse.  With millions of jobs at stake, this regulatory assault is the last thing the auto industry needs – and it bodes ill for other industries that drive our economy to create separate regulatory rules on radical whims.  

The problems in our economy will not be solved by government spending or ill-conceived government mandates on job producers.  The time has come to commit to a real pro-growth economic plan based on tax relief, comprehensive energy reform and more job creation.

Boehner represents Ohio’s 8th District, which includes all of Darke, Miami and Preble counties, most of Butler and Mercer counties, and the northeastern corner of Montgomery County.  He was first elected to Congress in 1990.