It's Not Too Late for Both Parties to Work Together on Legislation That Can Really Create Jobs

Statement

One of the biggest concerns I hear from constituents across Kentucky is the lack of jobs. In America today, 14 million people are unemployed and 4.5 million of them have been out of work for a year or more. Here in Kentucky, the unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, higher than the national average. People are rightfully demanding the federal government, at the very least, not make things worse when it comes to job creation.

I hear your concerns, and I'm working hard to make the situation better. First, let me describe recent events in Washington that have brought us to this point.

Three years ago, the president pushed through his so-called stimulus bill, which was supposed to revive the economy and keep unemployment below eight percent. Now, $825 billion later, we have a bad economy that became worse, record deficits and debts, a first-ever credit downgrade, a national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, and 1.5 million fewer jobs.

Clearly, the stimulus bill didn't work as advertised. Yet, the president's latest idea is another massive spending bill, along with a huge tax hike that will do nothing to help create jobs.

It's no wonder that so many of the Kentuckians I talk to, regardless of political stripe, all agree on one thing: the solutions coming out of this Administration simply miss the mark.

It seems that the Obama Administration has no new ideas for dealing with our jobs crisis. And by repeating what hasn't worked, they're proving that they haven't been listening to the American people either.

If the president and the liberals in Washington had gotten their way, American businesses would be stuck with a permanent tax hike on job creators. That would stifle economic growth and lead to fewer jobs, not more.

The president's latest stimulus proposal has bipartisan opposition in the Senate. But that has not stopped him and his liberal allies from continuing to pursue the same, failed approach of taxing and spending our way to prosperity.

It's not too late for both parties to work together on legislation that can really create jobs.

Recently I joined my friend Senator Rand Paul to introduce the Jobs Through Growth Act, a common-sense proposal that will remove the government-imposed obstacles to job growth and get our economy moving again.

It begins with tax reform--lowering the top income and corporate tax rates, simplifying the tax code, eliminating subsidies and closing loopholes to create a better, fairer tax system that will be better for individuals and small businesses.

It includes a moratorium on new government regulations which are stifling job growth in this country. It repeals and in some cases prevents burdensome regulations like those dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and farm-dust regulations that are both absurd and economically disastrous. Overregulation is estimated to cost businesses more than a trillion dollars a year, meaning a lot less money for private-sector job creation.

Our proposal would spur energy production by allowing more mining and exploration. This will not only create jobs, it will also lower energy costs.

Most importantly, our proposal does all of this without massive government spending. It puts us on the path to fiscal responsibility by including a balanced budget amendment. These measures will spur job growth without adding to our federal debt.

It takes a growing, dynamic private sector to create quality jobs and long-term economic growth in America--not massive government spending and bureaucracy. It's not too late for both parties to work together in Washington to help make that happen. So far the president doesn't seem to have gotten the message.

But Republicans are ready to work with him when he drops the plans that have proven to be ineffective and joins us in a new bipartisan approach. The millions of Americans still struggling to find work should expect nothing less.

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