Issue Position: Jobs and Economic Security

Issue Position

Issue Position: Jobs and Economic Security

Job creation and improving our economic competitiveness is, in my mind, the defining issue of this election. So many of the difficult issues we face every day - the rising costs of health care, tuition, gas prices, housing - all become less daunting when good, high paying jobs are in abundance.

To strengthen our economy, we must reduce government over-spending. Runaway deficits and record levels of spending in Congress are choking off capital in our economy and suppressing job creation. To rein in spending, I have called upon Congress to reform earmarks, ensuring complete transparency in the process and absolute accountability for those who would attempt to sneak wasteful earmarks and pork barrel spending into spending bills. I have also advocated for a Presidential line-item veto to allow our next President the power to remove ridiculous spending items from legislation without having to veto the entire bill. Most importantly, we must send people to Washington with an ability to make difficult decisions on spending, and who are capable of tightening government's belt alongside the millions of American families who are learning to make do with less.

Similarly, during these tough economic times, the worst thing our government could do is raise taxes on businesses and families. Rather, I believe we must keep taxes at their current level. We cannot tax our way out of a recession, but we can absolutely prolong it by taking more tax dollars from our workers and out of our economy and sending to the big spenders in Washington.

To secure our economy, we must also reform health care and reduce energy costs. The spiraling cost of health insurance is the number one impediment to small businesses wishing to hire more workers, and many workers cannot switch jobs out of fear of losing their health insurance. In Congress, I will work to reduce health care costs, increase access to health care, and improve health care quality and efficiency through proven reforms and innovation. Likewise, I have a comprehensive, balanced energy plan to increase our energy supplies today as we transition to the new cleaner energies of tomorrow. Finally, we must increase our investment in research and development, worker training, and education. We cannot compete in the global economy without ramping up resources for tomorrow's workers and new technologies.

America has the most productive, skilled workforce on Earth and unparalleled innovation and entrepreneurship. But we will lose our nation's competitive advantages in the 21st century economy if our government continues to employ backward, 19th century economic logic.

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