Rep. Jean Schmidt: Keeping Our Economy on Track Must Be a Priority

Via email:

Washington, DC - Most of you have heard about the new majority's legislative agenda referred to as the first '100 Hours.' This initiative was supposed to -- during the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress - reform Medicare, education, energy and other policies.

The rhetoric and publicity about the legislation considered in the 100 hours certainly sound good. Unfortunately, good slogans don't lead to good policy. Hidden behind all of the noise, is higher taxes, bigger government and limited consumer choice. According to the Concord Coalition, enactment of the '100 Hours' agenda would explode the deficit to $800 billion in ten years.

The bottom line is that the "reforms" passed by the House during the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress could put our nation's vibrant economy in serious jeopardy.

We all can agree that there are many important issues that need to be addressed. These include balancing the budget, improving access to health care, and achieving energy independence. But achieving these goals does not require us to undo all of the sound policies that have led to strong economic growth, record low unemployment, and millions of new jobs for working families across the nation.

Did you know that more than 7.2 million jobs have been created since August of 2003? The U.S. has grown faster than any other industrialized nation over the past four quarters. Our economy has added jobs for 40 consecutive months, and our national unemployment rate - 4.5% -- is below the national average of each of the past four decades. And, real wages have grown 2.3% in the past twelve months.

Looking back, we owe this prosperity to bold economic policies put into place after our economy suffered a series of major setbacks, including a recession, 9/11, corporate scandals and natural disasters. The historic tax relief packages in 2001 and 2003 spurred our economic recovery and put money - more than a trillion dollars - back into the pockets of American workers, families and small business, fueling tremendous economic growth.

Clearly, the tax relief packages were a boon to American taxpayers. But, what has it meant to the federal budget? In 2006, federal tax revenues grew to $2.4 trillion, a 12% increase over 2005. Since the tax relief packages were fully implemented in 2003, tax receipts have increased by 35% and the deficits have continually declined. Lower taxes have led to increased federal revenues - it's counterintuitive, but true.

That is why I recently agreed to join many of my colleagues in signing on to a letter to President Bush encouraging him to veto any bill that contains tax increases on working Americans and businesses. The letter also pledges to vote against any congressional effort to override a veto, should such an attempt be made.

I thought it was important to sign my name to this letter because now is not the time to put the brakes on our thriving economy.

Moving forward, we must find common ground to address a variety of important issues in a responsible way. I believe we can accomplish great things for the people we represent without sacrificing our nation's prosperity. There is simply too much at stake to support programs that could threaten our nation's economy.

No word on why she voted for the minimum wage increase...must have been a priority......