What's Next After the Supercommittee

Statement

By Representative Mike Rogers (AL)

As most folks across East Alabama know, just before Thanksgiving, the Congressional "supercommittee" charged with finding $1.2 trillion in spending cuts announced it failed to reach an agreement.

As Congress reconvenes in Washington this week, our huge debt continues to threaten our economic future.

It's my hope Congress and President Obama will redouble their efforts to come up with a compromise to help cut our debt and spending without hurting our military -- especially in a time of war.

I believe it can be done. The consequences of the failure of the "supercommittee" should not be placed on the backs of our military.

Yet the economic threat from too much debt remains. During these tough economic times when the United States must tighten its financial belt like the rest of Americans are doing, our national unemployment still hovers at 9 percent with Alabama's at 9.3 percent. Our economy needs help.
There are no easy answers and everyone will feel some pain. Future spending must be disciplined too -- that's why I supported a Balanced Budget Amendment.

Washington must also implement a pro-jobs agenda. The creation of private sector jobs will get our economy back on track. A growing economy coupled with spending discipline should start to reduce our debt burden.

As of writing, the House of Representatives has passed over 20 bipartisan bills to help spur private sector job creation.

They include legislation that helps stop job-threatening environmental regulations from being implemented; legislation reducing taxes on our small businesses, the heartbeat of our local economies; and bills to help rein in big government.

For example, I supported H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act. This bill would help prevent the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from dictating where private companies can locate, as they did to Boeing when they tried to locate in South Carolina.

Unfortunately almost all of these bills have run into the brick wall that is the United States Senate.
That has to change. It's time to get bills like these signed into law, which should help the private sector create more good paying jobs.

Source