Jobs and the Economy
Wasteful Spending
The American people sent a clear message in November 2010 to do one thing: reduce the national debt and cut spending. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration refuses to acknowledge that we cannot simply kick the can down the road and expect our fiscal mess to clean itself up. To put this in perspective, in 2009 and 2010, federal spending reached 24.7 percent and 23.8 percent of GDP respectively, the highest totals since World War II. In 2012, the national debt passed $16 trillion.
Additionally, discretionary spending between 2007 and 2010 increased by 25 percent. I have opposed every increase in the debt limit throughout my three terms in the United States House of Representatives.
While it is true that the previous Administration contributed to the dire fiscal climate, it is the current Administration that has accelerated the problem with its trillion dollar stimulus, trillion dollar healthcare package, bloated spending bills and complete lack of regard for future generations. The United States cannot continue down this path and expect to be the nation that the generations before us once knew.
We need a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. We also must acknowledge we cannot expect increased taxes to solve our problems. Spending has to be controlled and common sense must prevail.
Taxes
Taxes are too high and too complicated in the United States. Unfortunately, as our federal debt continues to grow, there are those who believe that the only way to solve the problem is through tax increases. We need commonsense solutions to this issue that promotes simplicity, fairness and efficiency, but those necessary standards are not being met through today’s U.S. tax code. As a former tax lawyer, tax reform is one of my highest priorities. For this reason, I have been a longtime advocate for reducing the tax burden on our families, small businesses, and job creators. I continue to advocate for the repeal of the estate tax, extending the current tax cuts and revising our corporate tax rate, which is the second highest in the world.
Since the beginning of my time in Congress, I have supported tax relief legislation for Americans. I have co-sponsored such bills as the Death Tax Repeal Act, Individual AMT Repeal Act of 2009 and Economic Recovery and Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2009. Earlier this Congress, I introduced the End Tax Uncertainty Act to make the tax levels in the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts permanent. This legislation will also repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and will reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent. The End Tax Uncertainty Act is backed by Americans for Tax Reform and National Taxpayers Union. I also co-sponsored the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011 which repealed the provision in the health care reform law that forced businesses to report any payments received over six hundred dollars. I was pleased when this bill was signed into law by President Obama.
Regulations and Reform
I am proud to serve on the Financial Services Committee, which has provided me a keen insight into the current housing crisis and credit crunch. It is this keen insight that has led me to be a staunch opponent of tax-payer funded bailouts and the Dodd-Frank legislation.
At the start of the 112th Congress, I introduced H.R. 87 to repeal the Dodd-Frank legislation. This regulatory bill grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set we’ve seen in previous Congresses.
Real reform also means transparency in monetary policy decisions. I have long been an advocate of auditing the Federal Reserve. I was proud to co-sponsor H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011. Since its founding in 1913, the Federal Reserve has enjoyed relative autonomy free from congressional oversight. I have been concerned for years about the Federal Reserve’s closed-door decision-making. Both the value and the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar are decided by this institution’s actions. Therefore it should not be allowed to operate under the veil of ‘independence.’ Removing the GAO audit restrictions will return to Congress more of its constitutional authority over the fiscal and monetary issues facing the nation.