[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17490-17491]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                WATCHING OUT FOR AMERICA'S JOB CREATORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, today our Nation is suffering with tremendous 
economic problems, with unemployment reaching a 26-year high at 9.5 
percent. Last month alone, our economy shed 467,000 jobs.
  In December 2006, the U.S. had had 54 straight months of job growth, 
the longest in the history of this country. Democrats took over the 
Congress in January 2007, and our economy has been going downhill since 
then. Since January 2009 when President Obama became President and the 
Democrats continued to control Congress, things have really gone 
downhill.
  Americans of all walks of life are hurting and cutting back as 
consumer spending slumps and more families find themselves with a 
breadwinner without work.
  What we need to get us out of this slump are policies aimed at 
helping employers create jobs. When employers create jobs and start 
hiring, the unemployed can get back to work and rejoin the ranks of the 
workers that make our Nation great.
  And what kind of policies encourage employers to create jobs? 
Policies that reduce the burden of government mandates and keep the tax 
man from dipping too deep into the pockets of those who create jobs: 
small business owners. What we are talking about is cutting back the 
jungle of red tape and keeping taxes low for the entrepreneurs who 
always lead the way to economic recovery.
  In 1802, Thomas Jefferson put it this way: ``If we can prevent the 
government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of 
taking care of them, they must become happy.'' He was voicing a common 
insight into the tendency of government to quickly put burdensome 
mandates on entrepreneurs and job-creating small businesses under the 
guise of lending a helping hand. Today we know this syndrome as big 
government.
  Unfortunately for the real engines of job creation in America, the 
Ways and Means Committee Democrats floated a massive tax hike in the 
past few days that will fall squarely on small business owners and 
entrepreneurs. Sure, they will market their $540 billion tax increase 
as ``a surtax'' on ``the wealthy.'' And you can bet your last dollar 
that anyone who dares to question this tax will be called a defender of 
the wealthy.
  How about defending the small businesses that will help pull us out 
of the

[[Page 17491]]

recession? How about looking out for innovators and risk takers whose 
ideas and products create jobs and grow our economy. These are the 
people who will be shelling out for this new $540 billion tax. And they 
are the very same people who could be hiring the unemployed and 
creating jobs if we just give them the breathing room they need instead 
of hiking their taxes one more time.

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