Washington D.C. – Congressman Steve Austria (R-Beavercreek) today announced the release of  “A Pledge to America,” a new governing agenda focused on addressing the American people’s top priorities.

 

“For too long, Washington has not been listening to the American People,” Congressman Austria said.  “Americans have been speaking out against all the Washington spending, cap and trade and a government takeover of health care reform and have been looking for better solutions, but their voices have been ignored. The plan introduced today gives a voice to what the American people would like to see Congress accomplish.”

 

The Pledge is the result of receiving around 1 million hits on the America Speaking Out Web site from Americans on their ideas and priorities for Congress.  The agenda offers concrete solutions that can be implemented immediately to tackle the issues that are most important to the nation, including job creation, spending restraint, national security, health care, and reform to Congress itself. The full agenda, “A Pledge to America”, can be viewed at: www.austria.house.gov.

 

The foundation of the plan is to get our economy back on track by creating jobs.  The plan eliminates the job-killing economic uncertainty afflicting small businesses, ending the “stimulus” and bailout spending sprees in Washington, including Congresses’ discretionary spending.  To create immediate jobs the plan suggests stopping all of the coming tax hikes, giving small businesses a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of their business income and repealing job killing small business mandates.

 

“It is important that we help create new jobs by helping the small businesses who are the job creators,” said Congressman Austria.

 

The Pledge to America also addresses the issue of health care reform head on.  The plan calls for an immediate repeal of the job-killing, government health care bill and replaces it with a health care plan that protects individual choices and lowers health care costs for small businesses and families: enacting medical liability reform, allowing Americans to purchase health care across state lines, expanding HSA accounts and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship.

 

 “As a former small business owner, I was pleased to see that the Pledge contains specific policy proposals which will protect individual choice and help our small businesses – like the Health Savings Account legislation I introduced – as part of the remedy to Speaker Pelosi’s recent takeover of our nation’s health care system and raising the cost of health care and higher taxes on small business.  There are over 900,000 small businesses in Ohio and many are in the 7^th Congressional District and HSAs are a piece of the puzzle to lower their costs and protecting individual choice.” Austria said.

 

As President of the new Republican freshman class, Congressman Austria strongly supports the Pledge’s focus on bringing more transparency and accountability to Congress.  It requires providing time for Congress and the public be able to read a bill before a vote by requiring bills to be on-line for at least three days before a vote.  The plan also states any bill must also include language to justify the Constitutionality of the bill.  Also any bill passed must be addressed one subject at a time and stand on its merit with a majority vote.

 

House Republicans are committed to principles of smaller, more accountable government; economic freedom; lower taxes; fiscal responsibility; protecting life, American values, and the Constitution; and providing for strong national security.  The new governing agenda offers a way forward for America consistent with all of these principles.

 

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