We recently marked the 100th day of President’s Obama tenure in the White House. While I like the President personally, I disagree with his economic policies, which I believe are reviving the era of big government that President Bill Clinton once said was “over” and threatening the jobs of tens of thousands of Ohioans.
Middle class families and small businesses are struggling in today’s economy, and they need help. Instead of providing help, the President and Congress have raised taxes on the middle class, paved the way for a new national energy tax that will affect every family and small business, and embarked on a spending and borrowing spree that unfortunately our children and grandchildren will pay for.
Contained within the federal budget recently passed by the Democratic Congress is a national energy tax that will cost every American family and small business as much as $3,100 a year – and the revenue from this tax will be used to pay for an expansion of government-run health care. What’s more, the tax cut that President Obama promised to middle-class families during his campaign was tossed out by congressional Democrats – and the President didn’t so much as blink. These decisions make it harder for our economy to create jobs, and harder for middle-class families to make ends meet.
My Republican colleagues and I voted together against this budget because we believe America can do better, and we offered a fully-detailed alternative free of the higher taxes and jobs-killing policies that mark the budget that was actually passed. You can read our proposal, “The Path to Prosperity,” on my website, www.JohnBoehner.House.Gov.
The so-called “stimulus” spending bill rushed through Congress may actually hurt the economy and threaten jobs, too. You read that right. The Buckeye Institute, a nonprofit think tank based in Columbus, recently issued a report on the likely impact of the trillion-dollar “stimulus” law on Ohio. The report, “The Economic Impact of Federal Spending on State Economic Performance: An Ohio Perspective,” notes:
“Federal government spending comes with costs; it should not be expected as the free-lunch it is frequently thought to be. Every dollar the government spends must first be removed from the pocket of the private sector – through higher taxes today, or higher borrowing today implying higher taxes tomorrow. Either way, government spending crowds out private sector spending, diminishing the private economy’s rate of growth. In other words, increased government spending makes citizens poorer because it takes their money now while reducing their future income.”
In Ohio, the Buckeye Institute estimates, the eventual cost of this massive influx of federal dollars will be the loss of between 66,400 and 91,200 jobs. At a time when Ohio’s unemployment is 9.7 percent, the highest it’s been in 25 years, working families in Ohio can hardly absorb such a hit.
The Buckeye Institute is not alone in predicting the “stimulus” may hurt the economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the same thing when it analyzed the legislation, concluding it would likely do more harm than good to our nation’s economy over the long haul. But the Democratic Congress, seeking a political victory, dismissed these warnings and passed it anyway.
I often like to highlight the folly of politicians spending money we don’t have. Many workers have become familiar with a concept known as “Tax Freedom Day,” which is the day on which Americans begin working for themselves each year, after having covered Uncle Sam’s tax bill for the year. “Debt Day” is very similar. It is the day of the Fiscal Year – beginning on October 1 of the previous calendar year – on which total government spending exceeds total federal revenues. This year, Debt Day fell on April 26 – about three months earlier than last year, and barely 100 days into President Obama’s term.
Washington’s attitude gives new meaning to the common sales phrase “buy now, pay later.” Congress and the White House have burned through our government’s “income” for the current Fiscal Year – a practice that shows no signs of stopping. In light of the Buckeye Institute’s report showing the loss of up to 91,000 jobs from the so-called stimulus package alone, one must wonder how many more jobs Ohio – and our nation – will lose as we return to the Era of Big Government.
Boehner represents Ohio’s 8th District, which includes all of Darke, Miami and Preble counties, most of Butler and Mercer counties, and the northeastern corner of Montgomery County. He was first elected to Congress in 1990.
