112th Congress
The failure of the Obama stimulus bill to keep unemployment below 9 percent demonstrates that the government is not effective at creating jobs. What the government can do is remove barriers to economic growth and create conditions favorable for employment. The long-delayed trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will do just that. And, unlike the $787 billion stimulus, they will not cost taxpayers a dime.
It's easy to see why congressional approval ratings have reached historic lows. The latest spending fight is a perfect example of the politics-as-usual -- and, even worse -- budgeting-as-usual practices that have undermined trust in the federal government and created record deficits.
Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04) hosts his monthly program "Cole on Congress" and visits with Rep. Mike Simpson (ID-02) to provide an analysis on the issues facing our nation. (September 2011)
Now that the Obama administration is releasing an economic plan at the rate of roughly once a week, it almost makes one miss the days when the president contributed nothing at all to the debate. At least during the months when President Obama remained virtually silent regarding the nation's most significant challenges, we were spared calls for $1.6 trillion tax hikes.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after the Obama White House released its latest debt plan, which calls for $1.5 trillion in new taxes:
"This proposal is more about election year politics than deficit reduction. The fact that President Obama once again failed to propose serious reforms to entitlement programs -- which are the main drivers of the debt -- shows he is interested not in solving problems but in scoring political points.
As Paul Harvey might say, "now we know the rest of the story." In an address to Congress, President Obama touted his jobs plan as a cure-all for the nation's economic woes and exhorted legislators to pass his bill without delay -- and without actually having seen the bill yet. But details on how to pay for the plan were conspicuously absent.
After weeks of hype, President Obama finally unveiled his jobs plan in an address to a joint session of Congress. The speech comes on the heels of an August employment report that indicated zero percent job growth. This is the first time this has happened since 1945, which only underscores the failure of the $787 billion stimulus bill passed in 2009 by President Obama and the Pelosi/Reid Democratic Congress.
The nation's job creators consistently cite government overregulation as one of the most significant obstacles to economic growth. Likewise in my August town hall meetings and conversations with Oklahoma business leaders, frustration with government overreach is mentioned again and again as a major barrier to hiring and expansion. An Illinois farmer who confronted President Obama at a town hall meeting spoke for many when he said, "Please don’t challenge us with more rules and regulations from Washington.”
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released a midyear update of its Budget and Economic Outlook, and the results are educational. Amid the grim economic news are glimpses of the progress that is possible when Washington get its act together and cuts spending.