Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today reacted strongly to the release of federal unemployment figures that, for the first time since 1983, breached 10 percent. Last month alone, the economy lost 190,000 jobs bringing the total job losses since the February passage of the "so-called" stimulus to more than 2.8 million.
"These numbers let us cut through the carefully constructed spin of those who want to continue to spend and spend," said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "For almost a year, I have warned that the San Francisco policies coming out of Washington, D.C. would hurt the economy and cost jobs. At the same time some have claimed that bigger government and higher taxes would somehow create jobs. Well, the results have been tallied and the numbers are in. Montanans can judge for themselves what was truth and what was spin."
Rehberg cites a long list of job-killing policies that have been advocated by House Democratic Leadership, including:
The "so-called" Stimulus that was ironically sold to the American people as a "Jobs Bill." The $1 trillion "stimulus" legislation promised 3 to 4 million jobs--90 percent of which would be new private sector jobs--and keep unemployment below 8 percent. Since then, the country has lost nearly three million jobs and more than half of the "saved and created" jobs reported by the White House were government jobs that already existed.
Speaker Pelosi's budget contains over $1.5 trillion in tax increases over the next 10 years. These massive tax hikes on Montana's families, small businesses, and workers will slow economic growth and cost jobs.
The "Cap and Tax" legislation amounts to a national energy tax, which would drive up the cost of energy and impose thousands of dollars in new taxes on every individual, family, and business in the country. According to one study, 2.3 to 2.7 million jobs would be lost per year for the next twenty years as a result of the energy tax. Those job-losses hit energy producing states like Montana particularly hard.
Even the Pelosi Health Care Bill will kill jobs by imposing $729.5 billion in higher taxes on a struggling economy, including $135 billion in taxes on businesses who cannot afford to finance their workers' health coverage and taxes on individuals without insurance. A model developed by chief White House adviser Christina Romer indicates that as many as 5.5 million jobs could be lost from the bill's new taxes.
"It's well past time for better economic solutions in Washington," said Rehberg. "From the start, I've said to follow the models that worked for John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan -- smaller government and lower taxes that empower individuals and small businesses.