Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement after House passage of H.R. 4849, another so-called “jobs bill” that focuses on aid to government instead of the private sector.

“Sustainable economic growth comes from private enterprise, not the government,” said Congressman Price. “The failure of the Democrats’ government-centric $862 billion stimulus made that abundantly clear for anyone who didn’t already know. Yet, Democrats are once again subsidizing government growth when they should be focused on private sector job creation. Eighty percent of the tax relief in this bill goes to state and local governments instead of the small businesses who drive our economy. This bill imposes a net tax increase in the midst of rampant unemployment, including a $7.7 billion tax hike on companies located in the U.S. and employing American workers. Even if liberals can’t refrain from raising taxes in a recession, they should know that punishing the job creating businesses who hire American workers is a sure way to get more unemployed Americans. Do they not believe the unemployment rate is high enough already?”