Issue Position: Jobs

Issue Position

A good job and the ability to own your own business are at the heart of the American Dream.

Unfortunately for many families, in the last twelve years that Maria Cantwell has been in office, Washington State's unemployment rate has almost doubled. Today, nearly one in five persons is looking for work or underemployed. Most of you will know someone in that difficult position, or be struggling yourselves.

When Cantwell took office in 2000, the unemployment rate in America was around 4%. Today it's over 8%.

Of course Cantwell isn't solely responsible, but there's absolutely no doubt that her policies are hurting jobs growth in our state and nation.

Cantwell believes that increasing government spending is the key to creating jobs. She voted to support borrowing money from the Chinese to give to politically-connected companies like Solyndra. It failed, and only put us further into debt.

To make matters worse, Cantwell supports job-killing regulations that hurt small businesses and send jobs overseas. She opposes projects like the Keystone pipeline that could put thousands of working people back in jobs today.

We must let entrepreneurs and small business create jobs without government red tape slowing growth and distorting markets.

You don't need to have taught economics classes at Harvard, like I did, to know that. You simply need to have the common sense to know that it was unshackling the spirit of entrepreneurship, ingenuity and hard work that made America great.

Here are some of my priorities to get our economy back on track:

Create certainty in our economy by committing to balanced budgets. All the reckless spending and growing debt is hurting jobs. Cantwell has helped double the national debt, and she and her colleagues in the Senate haven't even passed a budget in 3 years. Their lack of fiscal responsibility creates doubt for job creators and keeps capital on the sidelines. I talk to small businessmen every day, and nearly all of them say that above all they need confidence and predictability from government to grow.

They're not getting it now. But when I get to the Senate I'll help balance budgets and give job creators confidence that DC cares about growing our economy, not about waging class-warfare and pitting Americans against each other.

Reduce regulations that are driving jobs overseas. In just the last few years Cantwell has helped support regulations that cost billions and billions to business and job creators. As just one example, her vote for Obamacare put a new tax on makers of medical devices that will shift jobs in this high-technology field to overseas.

We need to make sure that American small businesses operate in the most competitive environment. The bi-partisan Bowles-Simpson commission noted that America has some of the highest business tax rates in the world. It recommended simultaneously reducing the rates and closing tax loopholes. Cantwell helped block the proposal from even being brought up for a vote.

I will oppose job-killing regulations, and work to make Washington state and America the best place in the world to start and run a small business.

Increase domestic natural resource production and our energy security. Projects like the Keystone pipeline, which Cantwell opposes, can help create thousands of good paying blue-collar jobs here in America.

I support a balanced approach that can bring our energy costs down, create thousands of jobs, and maintain safeguards for the environment.

Increase international trade. Washington's economy benefits more from international trade than any other state in our country. From planes to agricultural produce, our state leads the world and our economy benefits when new markets are opened.

My international economic development career has taken me to more than 70 countries, and I'll ensure that Washington businesses have more opportunities to sell our world-leading products overseas.

Improve American education. Increasing well-paying jobs in a knowledge economy requires a well-educated work force and quality K-12, university and technical education. Unfortunately, America's education system is failing too many students. Our country recently fell to 25th place among advanced economies in student mathematics ability. That's nowhere near good enough.

The health of our economy requires that we fight to keep universities and colleges affordable for working families - an area that I've made a priority during my time serving in the State Senate.

Upgrade America's transportation infrastructure. Our economy requires improved roads, bridges and ports to grow. Unfortunately, specific labor and environmental regulations make investments in these needed projects more expensive than necessary, at a time of limited government resources.

I believe that America should reduce such regulatory burdens and commit sufficient resources to improved infrastructure.

Maria Cantwell thinks the solution to jobs growth is increasing government spending and increasing debt. She's wrong. The answer is getting back to the basics, and unleashing the spirit of innovation and hard work that made our country great.

Cantwell can't do that. Working together, you and I will.

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