>Congressman Scott Garrett:Another Taxpayer Funded Bailout!
In case you haven’t heard already, Speaker Pelosi called my colleagues and me back from the August recess on Tuesday to vote on more government spending. This one comes in the form of a bailout package to help states cover the costs for education and Medicaid to the tune of $26 billion. And here I thought the American public would finally get some reprieve from the voracious spending appetite of liberal Democrats in Washington, DC.
It should come as no surprise for you to know that I voted against this bill. Not only does it spend money that we don’t have, but it perpetuates the bailout culture that has become so popular with Democrats in Congress. Also, but the so-called spending “offsets” in the bill came in the form of a $10 billion tax increase on corporations.
Democrats would like you to believe that spending this additional $26 billion will somehow create jobs, spur economic growth and expand individual opportunity for Americans. The truth is that this latest bailout is really just a give-away to state bureaucrats at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Another short-term federal bailout will only encourage states to rely on more taxpayer funded federal assistance rather than balancing their budgets and reducing unneeded spending.
The American small business community is starting to catch on to the parlor games of Democrats in Washington. They have seen first hand just how ineffective the Democrats’ solutions have been in turning around the economy and putting American back to work.
On Monday, Michael Fleischer, the president of a small business in the Fifth District, penned a very thoughtful Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, “Why I’m not Hiring.”
In his piece, Mr. Fleischer writes, “As much as I might want to hire new salespeople, engineers and marketing staff in an effort to grow, I would be increasing my company’s vulnerability to government decisions to raise taxes, to policies that make health insurance more expensive, and to the difficulties of this economic environment. A life in business is filled with uncertainties, but I can be quite sure that every time I hire someone my obligations to the government go up. From where I sit, the government’s message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price.”
All Members of Congress would be well served to read Mr. Fleischer’s piece. Rather than looking for ways to make it harder to conduct business in the U.S., Congress should be working on ways to make it easier to grow businesses and hire new workers. We shouldn’t be coming back to Washington to vote on measures that spend money we don’t have. Instead, my colleagues and me should be coming back to Washington to vote for legislation that puts Americans back to work, reduces our ballooning national debt and gets the American economy on a course towards prosperity once again.
Congressman Scott Garrett
