As a third generation small business owner, I understand the economic challenges facing job creators and hardworking families across North and Northwest Florida. 

Unemployment is high, job creation is low and our national debt is hurtling towards $15 trillion.  If there is one thing that the recent economic downturn has proven, it is that the federal government cannot create jobs, but anti-growth policies from Washington can certainly destroy them. 

That is why my primary focus in Congress has been on improving conditions for economic growth – not inside the Beltway, but in Florida’s Second Congressional District and in communities across America.  I have supported a common sense economic agenda that includes:

• Reducing costly, onerous regulations on our small businesses
• Streamlining our tax code to spur investment and create jobs
• Making American companies more competitive in the global marketplace
• Expanding access to safe, affordable American-made energy
• Paying down our crushing burden of debt

In visits to small businesses across North and Northwest Florida, I have heard time and again from job creators begging for relief from crippling federal overregulation.  I am the lead freshman cosponsor of a bill to repeal the job-crushing employer mandate in the health care reform law.  I have also joined leaders at all levels of Florida government to fight the EPA’s implementation of federal Numeric Nutrient Criteria regulations that could cost Florida 14,500 agriculture jobs.  And I have supported American-made energy legislation that will help get our Gulf Coast communities back to work by jumpstarting stalled oil exploration lease sales.

To rein in wasteful Washington spending, I voted for a responsible House budget proposal that cuts spending by $6.2 trillion and lowers tax $800 billion over the next decade, on top of hundreds of billions in spending cuts already approved.  I am also pleased to have voted for the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011, which further reduces federal spending, while capping future spending at below 20% of GDP and paving the way for congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment. 

I opposed a final compromise on an increase in the debt ceiling because it fell short of our historic economic challenges.  When Standard & Poor’s announced its decision to downgrade America’s AAA credit rating for the first time in history, it served as proof positive that immeasurable, incremental spending reductions were simply not enough.

In an effort to make American manufacturers more competitive with foreign companies, I voted for free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.  These agreements are critical steps forward in breaking down barriers to international trade, potentially creating 20,000 jobs and generating $1.5 billion in international trade opportunities for Florida alone. 

There is a lot of work left to be done to restore certainty to the marketplace.  I will continue working with like-minded members of both parties to change the culture in Washington and improve conditions for economic growth and job creation on Main Streets across America, rather than in Washington, D.C.