Grassley Participates in White House Meeting to Discuss Job Creation

Press Release

Senator Chuck Grassley today attended a White House meeting to discuss the economy and job creation with President Barack Obama and Republicans and Democrats from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Grassley said he made two points during the meeting in the Cabinet Room, which he said lasted about an hour and 25 minutes. Grassley said he thought it would be "very helpful for the President to do what he did a year ago and announce that there won't be any tax increases because of their detrimental effect. Certainty of tax policy would be very good for the economy, especially in the area of marginal rates," Grassley said.

The Iowa senator said he also urged the President to move forward on pending trade agreements, especially with South Korea. "There's too much hesitation and delay on this issue, and while we're sitting on the sidelines, Europe has negotiated with South Korea and is in a position to go ahead and take the opportunities for exports that the United States will miss. This is very harmful, especially to pork and other areas of agriculture," Grassley said.

Grassley made an argument for trade to play a big part of economic recovery efforts in a letter he sent last Wednesday to the President, as well. He urged the President to start working to create jobs by expanding access to world markets for goods and services made in the United States. "Trade agreements have proven their value, but pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea have been sidelined. The President could help American workers by taking action to expand world market access for farmers, manufacturing and services," Grassley said. The text of Grassley's letter to the President about using international trade for job creation follows this news release.

In a separate letter last week, Grassley also urged the President to get behind the comprehensive small business tax relief bill he introduced in June.

"My bill would leave more money in the hands of small business owners so they can hire more workers, keep paying the salaries of their employees, and make additional investments that will lead to new jobs," Grassley said. "Small businesses create 70 percent of net new jobs, yet they've been left out of every recovery effort so far -- from the bank bailout, to the auto bailout and the stimulus bill. The tax increases and mandates in the health care bill are piling on and creating a very negative environment for small businesses, which doesn't make sense because small businesses are such an important element for economic recovery." Grassley's bill is S. 1381, the Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2009.

The Iowa senator also said that jobs can be created with a continued push to develop renewable, clean-burning energy. He has introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for the production of electricity from wind and open-loop biomass through December 31, 2016. It would increase the amount of bond authority for new clean renewable energy bonds. For all businesses, Grassley's bill would extend bonus depreciation for one year, so that businesses are able to deduct half of the value of any property placed in service in 2010. "This tax cut for businesses that invest in 2010 will spur investment, and that will create badly needed jobs," Grassley said. This bill is S. 2826, the Clean Renewable Energy Advancement Tax Extension Jobs Act of 2009, or the CREATE Jobs Act of 2009.

Separately, Grassley said he's been urging the Environmental Protection Agency to act on biodiesel regulations in the RFS-2. "The EPA's delay has had negative repercussions, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. The agency can start to reverse this very negative economic impact by implementing an enforceable biodiesel mandate," Grassley said. Grassley is also working in the Senate to extend both the biodiesel tax credit and the small agri-biodiesel credit, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

Grassley has warned about the downside of the national debt, which is rising three times faster than it did under the previous administration, and the dark side of deficit spending for economic recovery. "Continuous deficit spending restricts available revenue for other priorities and throttles private investment in the workforce, innovation and technology," Grassley said. "Financing chronic federal deficits risks higher interest rates and higher inflation, and excessive federal borrowing weakens the dollar and international competitiveness."

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