The Economy

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the last 19 months, the American people have waited patiently for the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress to help them turn the economy around. And time and time again, the administration and its allies in Congress have turned a deaf ear. Rather than implement the policies that would free up capital, lead to investment, and create good, lasting, private sector jobs, Democrats in Congress have passed one sweeping government-driven scheme after another and then asked taxpayers to put it on their tab.

A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted, and temporary turned out to be a liberal wish list instead. Instead of stimulating the economy and keeping unemployment below 8 percent, as promised, we stand here today with nearly 10 percent unemployment nationwide and many more Americans struggling to find full-time work. A health care bill that was supposed to lower costs is doing the opposite. As I have repeatedly said in the past and as a new government report confirmed just last week, the President's health care plan will bend the cost curve up, not down. A financial regulatory bill that was supposed to protect Main Street is being embraced by some of the biggest players on Wall Street, while smalltown bankers and retailers brace themselves for the costly and burdensome rules and regulations it will impose on them. Every one of these bills came at a steep price to the taxpayer, and until now, Democrats have been content to borrow the money, to simply pile it onto the debt.

Now comes the second half of the story, the final piece of their agenda--the part where they point to all that spending and demand payment for it, where they try to make it all permanent. Democrats spent the last 2 years putting government in charge of health care, the financial sector, car companies, insurance companies, student loans--you name it. Now they want the tax hike to pay for it all. Americans asked the administration to fix the sink, and they remodeled the house instead. Now they are sending us the bill.

That was the plan all along: force these massive programs through, drive up the debt, call it a crisis, and then demand that people pay their ``fair share'' to dig us out. It starts with small business owners, but I assure you it will not stop there because if Democrats spend this much money in the middle of a recession, they will borrow and spend even more once we are out of it. The President admitted as much just last week on national television when he said the tax hike he is asking for will not be used to pay for any of the things he has already done. He will use the money from these tax hikes to spend on other things, on ``better things,'' as he put it. We have seen the so-called better things Democrats want to spend tax money on--a stimulus bill that is funding research on interpretive dance and monkeys, a health care bill that cut Medicare and increased premiums, and a financial regulatory bill that hires more of the same kinds of Washington bureaucrats who missed the last crisis. Americans have had it. They are tired of Democratic leaders in Washington pursuing the same government-driven programs that have done nothing but add to the debt and the burden of government.

We cannot allow this administration to demand that small business owners in this country pay for its own fiscal recklessness. That is why I am introducing legislation today that ensures no one in this country will pay higher income taxes next year than they are right now. We cannot let the people who have been hit the hardest by this recession and who need to create the jobs that will get us out of it foot the bill for the Democrats' 2-year adventure in expanded government. We can't allow America's job creators to pay for Democrats' out-of-control spending over the past 2 years any more than we can allow Main Street to pay for the greed of Wall Street. Wall Street should pay for its own excesses. So should the administration and Democratic leaders in Washington.

The good news is there is a growing chorus of Democrats, at least five right here in the Senate, who are coming around on this issue. They oppose the tax hikes the administration is proposing. As Senator Lieberman put it earlier today:

I don't think it makes sense to raise any Federal taxes during the uncertain economy we are struggling through. The more money we leave in private hands, the quicker our economic recovery will be.

That was Senator Lieberman today. I couldn't agree more. Only in Washington could someone propose a tax hike as an antidote to a recession.

This is no small tax hike. The tax hike the administration is proposing, according to the IRS, would apply to half of all small business income in this country. An analysis by the National Federation of Independent Business shows that businesses that employ 20 to 250 people would be the hardest hit. All told, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, right at 750,000 small businesses would be impacted by this tax increase.

Here is the bottom line: No recovery will take place until the government stops overspending. No recovery will take place until government stops imposing new regulations and costs on business. No recovery will take place if we impose new taxes on the people we need to create jobs. Democratic leaders need to listen to what the American people have been shouting at us for the last 19 months: The reckless spending has to stop. So far, they have made no concrete concessions, but now it is time they join Republicans, stand up to the administration, and declare that the spending spree is over. That is the first step on the road to recovery.

As for the next step, Republicans stood together before the August recess and put together a plan that would save taxpayers $300 billion over the next 10 years. That is a good place to start.

So Democrats have a choice. They can stand with us on this proposal and show they finally realize we cannot spend our way out of the recession or they can continue to stand with an administration whose policies--real and threatened--represent the greatest obstacle to our Nation's economic recovery.

Let's face it. The Democratic agenda has been disastrous for the economy: 2 1/2 million jobs lost, $2.5 trillion more in debt, more job-stifling regulations, mandates, and redtape, and now they want to drive another nail in the coffin--a massive tax hike on the very people who will dig us out of this recession by expanding their businesses and creating jobs.

Republicans are offering a choice: more of the same or the new direction the American people are asking for.

I yield the floor.

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