Republicans Promote Simple Solutions for Recovery

Monday, September 13, 2010 4:54 PM

CFA strongly supports Republican Leader John Boehner and the growing chorus of House Republicans who are supporting proven solutions to reduce the size of government and promote fiscal austerity. Leader Boehner announced last week his two-step plan to get the country back on track, highlighting a policy we have been advocating for a while – returning the government to pre-“stimulus,” pre-bailout levels. In addition, Leader Boehner called for a two-year freeze in current tax policy and to forego what will be the largest tax hike in history, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2011.

Today, several other Republicans in the House, Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) sent a letter to Chairmen Sander Levin (D-Mich.), David Obey (D-Wis.), and John Spratt (D-S.C.) calling on these Congressional leaders to promote and pursue a bipartisan legislative process to immediately draft legislation that would instantiate the goals set forth by Leader Boehner. The congressmen called on the chairmen to begin the process immediately, before the recess in October, to avoid the stagnation of a lame duck session. From their letter:

It is painfully clear that excessive spending by government, coupled with the looming threat of a $3.8 trillion tax hike on January 1 that will raise taxes on 56% of all business income -- including on the vast majority of the small businesses that are the engines of job creation -- will further discourage private-sector job creation.  If both parties are serious in the pledges we have made to focus on jobs, it is critical that legislators on both sides of the aisle come together and use what time remains in this Congress to enact legislation that removes these harmful barriers to private-sector job creation.

These two measures, the tax freeze and the spending cuts, would create a positive environment for more jobs to return to the private sector. History has demonstrated the efficacy of these policies: when taxes are low and the government burden is reduced, the economy thrives. The current explosion in spending and taxes illustrates the fallacy of big government: 19  months of “stimulus” spending have, in every measurable way, made the country worse off. Time is running out in this Congress to set things back on the proper path for job creation and we sincerely hope that this discussion results in significant cuts in spending and prudent tax policy.

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