Congressman
Henry E. Brown, Jr.

As news broke that U.S. companies cut 240,000 jobs in October and unemployment has spiked to 6.5 percent, the highest since March 1994, I urge Congress that we must resist steps that would only deepen the economic pain felt by famlies and small businesses.

As a long-time supporter of an ‘all of the above’ energy solution, I believe that committing ourselves to addressing our nation’s energy crisis is a major step towards correcting our economic woes.

I was proud to have worked with my Republican colleagues to force the Democratic Congress to open the door to more American energy by allowing the outdated ban on energy production on the Outer Continental Shefl to expire.  By opening up domestic energy sources off our coasts and on our soil we can begin providing Americans with American energy. In addition, we will not only keep billions of dollars that we are currently paying, often, enemy nations for their resources, but we will be able to create thousands of jobs for the American people and begin rebuilding our economy with the resulting infrastructure.

While allowing the bans to expire was a significant first step, there are many Democrats in Congress who are already talking about renewing them once the 111th Congress comes into session.  Not only will I stand against those efforts, but I will work to ensure that those who want us to be dependent upon foreign sources of energy do not use the court system to block energy production with endless lawsits. 

Addressing our domestic energy deficit will result in the ultimate strengthening of our economy however, we must also ensure that we get to the root of our economic problems. 

Despite Democrat efforts to cover up the facts, hearings over the month of October showed that the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the root of the financial crisis.  I, along with my Republican colleagues in the House are demanding a complete review of these two institutions. The American people deserve the opportunity to do their own investigation into the decisions made by the executives at these two companies – decisions that have imperiled our nation’s economy.  Once we find that out, we need to fix what is broken in the system.

What we must resist are efforts by Congressional Democrats to use the economic challenges facing our nation to raise taxes.  Their tax increases would cost the average South Carolina taxpayer some $2,000, and would target married couples, small businesses,and seniors.  Instead, we need to enact tax relief that is focused on working families and small businesses.

Reducing our energy deficit, addressing our infrastructure challenges, attacking the root causes behind the crisis, and enacting tax relief are essential steps to return our economy to the path of prosperity and growth.

Posted by Henry E. Brown (11-07-2008, 07:02 PM) filed under Economy, Energy, Transportation

 

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