Like many Americans I anticipated that President Barack Obamas jobs speech would offer new ideas for getting our economy moving again. What I heard however was largely a repeat of many of the same policies that have gotten us nowhere or worse.
We see the results around us: 14 million Americans out of work 41 million on food stamps the first downgrade of U.S. debt in history and mountains of new regulations burdening job creators.
Yet some aspects of the presidents plan do have merit. First Obama focused on employing veterans by giving businesses tax credits for hiring those whove served particularly veterans who have been disabled or who have had a period of unemployment.
I was pleased that a variation of my infrastructure improvement proposal brought forward with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was included in the presidents plan. Our Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development Act could leverage up to $600 billion in new infrastructure investment using $10 billion in federal seed money.
Rather than adding hundreds of billions to our governments nearly $15 trillion debt we propose seeding a national revolving loan fund and authorizing strictly underwritten loan guarantees matched by private sector investments and local governments. Our legislation requires that applicants have not only a strong financial base but a dedicated revenue stream to assure repayment of revolving and guaranteed loans.
These elements are essential safeguards to protect taxpayers from being left holding the bill for politically inspired projects that dont make good business sense. If the president and Congress will support all our bills key features the legislation is likely to become law spurring badly needed development and job creation. However if the president adds grants and items that will increase the costs of a project it would damage its chances for Congressional approval.
I also believe that the President could find support for his temporary payroll tax cuts for both employers and employees. These tax measures are good; however they are temporary and do not give long-term predictably to businesses.
Unfortunately with much of this bill the president is going in the wrong direction. It does not help consumer or business confidence when the president pushes again and again for policies that havent worked and wont.
What we need is a business friendly environment one that keeps taxes and regulation low so that businesses can thrive.
As a president famously said The last thing we want to do is raise taxes during a recession." It was Obama who said that in 2009. Yet today he proposes to pay for his jobs bill with a half -trillion dollars in new taxes.
We shouldnt talk about higher taxes. We need to give business people the confidence that things are going to get better. The president singles out oil and gas operations as he has done many times and proposes $40 billion in punishing new taxes on this industry over the next decade. The deductions it would eliminate are used by many different industries and are not unique to oil and gas.
The administration fails to recognize that most of these deductions can only be used by small independent producersnot the majors. Many of the targeted deductions have been in place for nearly a century to allow producers to recover some of the massive costs of oil and gas exploration and development. The presidents plan puts at risk our domestic production as well as the 9.2 million jobs supported by the oil and gas industry.
The other important aspect of job creation is cutting regulation which is hampering productivity. In late August the White House proposed to cut $10 billion in red tape over the next five years. What officials didnt mention is that the Obama administration rolled out more than 1225 regulations estimated to cost $17.7 billion in just July and August alone.
As I travel around Texas I am regularly told by business people that they feel as though they are in the business of filling out government forms. And the negative impact of these regulations has a human toll.
Early last week it was announced that a new Environmental Protection Agencys rule forced a Texas energy company to shut down a plant. Roughly 500 Texans will ultimately lose their jobs.
Most important the largest cloud looming over our economic future is Obamas health care law. Its expected taxes and fines are already freezing hiring.
If the president wants to expand the economy and put Americans back to work he should consult with Congress on a bipartisan plan starting with permanent reform of our tax system and a reduction of out-of-control regulations.
He should consider something big to get this economy moving again. Heres one idea: a moratorium on all new regulations with exceptions granted only in areas of public health and safety.
Looking forward we need to focus on bringing down our debt cutting unnecessary spending reforming our tax code reining in burdensome regulations and above all steps that will create much-needed jobs. After nearly three years it is clear that the presidents policies have made our economy worse leaving millions of Americans jobless and unable to provide for their families.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Like many Americans I anticipated that President Barack Obamas jobs speech would offer new ideas for getting our economy moving again. What I heard however was largely a repeat of many of the same policies that have gotten us nowhere or worse.
We see the results around us: 14 million Americans out of work 41 million on food stamps the first downgrade of U.S. debt in history and mountains of new regulations burdening job creators.
Yet some aspects of the presidents plan do have merit. First Obama focused on employing veterans by giving businesses tax credits for hiring those whove served particularly veterans who have been disabled or who have had a period of unemployment.
I was pleased that a variation of my infrastructure improvement proposal brought forward with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was included in the presidents plan. Our Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development Act could leverage up to $600 billion in new infrastructure investment using $10 billion in federal seed money.
Rather than adding hundreds of billions to our governments nearly $15 trillion debt we propose seeding a national revolving loan fund and authorizing strictly underwritten loan guarantees matched by private sector investments and local governments. Our legislation requires that applicants have not only a strong financial base but a dedicated revenue stream to assure repayment of revolving and guaranteed loans.
These elements are essential safeguards to protect taxpayers from being left holding the bill for politically inspired projects that dont make good business sense. If the president and Congress will support all our bills key features the legislation is likely to become law spurring badly needed development and job creation. However if the president adds grants and items that will increase the costs of a project it would damage its chances for Congressional approval.
I also believe that the President could find support for his temporary payroll tax cuts for both employers and employees. These tax measures are good; however they are temporary and do not give long-term predictably to businesses.
Unfortunately with much of this bill the president is going in the wrong direction. It does not help consumer or business confidence when the president pushes again and again for policies that havent worked and wont.
What we need is a business friendly environment one that keeps taxes and regulation low so that businesses can thrive.
As a president famously said The last thing we want to do is raise taxes during a recession." It was Obama who said that in 2009. Yet today he proposes to pay for his jobs bill with a half -trillion dollars in new taxes.
We shouldnt talk about higher taxes. We need to give business people the confidence that things are going to get better. The president singles out oil and gas operations as he has done many times and proposes $40 billion in punishing new taxes on this industry over the next decade. The deductions it would eliminate are used by many different industries and are not unique to oil and gas.
The administration fails to recognize that most of these deductions can only be used by small independent producersnot the majors. Many of the targeted deductions have been in place for nearly a century to allow producers to recover some of the massive costs of oil and gas exploration and development. The presidents plan puts at risk our domestic production as well as the 9.2 million jobs supported by the oil and gas industry.
The other important aspect of job creation is cutting regulation which is hampering productivity. In late August the White House proposed to cut $10 billion in red tape over the next five years. What officials didnt mention is that the Obama administration rolled out more than 1225 regulations estimated to cost $17.7 billion in just July and August alone.
As I travel around Texas I am regularly told by business people that they feel as though they are in the business of filling out government forms. And the negative impact of these regulations has a human toll.
Early last week it was announced that a new Environmental Protection Agencys rule forced a Texas energy company to shut down a plant. Roughly 500 Texans will ultimately lose their jobs.
Most important the largest cloud looming over our economic future is Obamas health care law. Its expected taxes and fines are already freezing hiring.
If the president wants to expand the economy and put Americans back to work he should consult with Congress on a bipartisan plan starting with permanent reform of our tax system and a reduction of out-of-control regulations.
He should consider something big to get this economy moving again. Heres one idea: a moratorium on all new regulations with exceptions granted only in areas of public health and safety.
Looking forward we need to focus on bringing down our debt cutting unnecessary spending reforming our tax code reining in burdensome regulations and above all steps that will create much-needed jobs. After nearly three years it is clear that the presidents policies have made our economy worse leaving millions of Americans jobless and unable to provide for their families.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
