HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Oct 8, 2009 -

The highest unemployment rate since 1983 and the largest budget deficit since World War II.  This is what has Washington Democrats scrambling to find new ways to tax, spend, and borrow as they acknowledge the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ isn’t working.  Severe joblessness and  the “most red ink ever” is not what the American people were promised.  With a costly government takeover of health care and a national energy tax in the works, Democrats are showing no signs of easing away from their job-killing agenda.  That’s why House Republicans sent letters to President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) yesterday, renewing the call for action on common-sense solutions that will help small businesses get back to creating jobs.  Senate Democrats have already dismissed these ideas, but as GOP leaders made clear in their letter, the American people want bipartisan action on job creation:

WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS’ DISASTROUS ECONOMIC RECORD BY THE NUMBERS:

• 9.8 percent: The nation’s unemployment rate, the highest since 1983, according to the Department of Labor. Washington Democrats promised that their ‘stimulus’ bill would keep unemployment below eight percent.
  
• 2.99 million:  Private sector jobs lost since the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ became law.
  
• 26.6 million: Workers either unemployed or underemployed (meaning those who are unable to find adequate work,) representing more than one-sixth of all U.S. workers.
  
• $1.4 trillion: Budget deficit for fiscal year 2009, the largest it has been since 1945, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
  
• $9 trillion: Projected budget deficits over the next ten years under the Obama Administration’s budget, more than the sum of all previous deficits in our nation’s history.
  
• $11.93 trillion: The public’s share of our national debt, projected to rise to $17.5 trillion by the end of next decade under the Obama Administration’s budget.
  
• 17 percent: The rate at which home foreclosures increased in the second quarter,  according to the Office of Thrift Supervision. Every 13 seconds, there is another foreclosure filing in America.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ SOLUTIONS TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES GET BACK TO CREATING JOBS:

• Allow small businesses to take a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of their income.
  
• Let small businesses join together to purchase health insurance for their workers the way large businesses and labor unions do.
  
• Enact genuine legal reform and policies that incentivize wellness to reduce health care costs for small businesses.
  
• Lower taxes for all taxpayers by reducing the current 15 percent rate to 10 percent and reducing the current 10 percent rate to 5 percent.  This will provide an immediate increase in income to every taxpaying family in America and free up capital to help small businesses hire more workers.
  
• Expand health savings accounts (HSAs) to provide additional flexibility to small businesses in providing health care to their employees.
  
• Increase the net operating loss carry back from 2 to 5 years to provide struggling employers with additional resources to keep their doors open.