E-Newsletter 6/22/12

Statement

Senator Johnson Comments on Senate Vote on S. 3240

The 2012 Food Stamp bill -- more commonly known as the "2012 Farm Bill' -- will spend about $995 billion over the next ten years. Of that nearly $1 trillion, 78% ($772 billion) will be spent on Food Stamps.

During debate on the Senate floor, I made a Motion to Recommit the bill back to committee with the simple instruction to split it into two separate pieces of legislation -- a Food Stamp Bill and a Farm Bill. That motion was defeated by a vote of 40-59. Why are these measures combined? The answer is simple -- to keep much of the legislation out of the light of day and to make spending $1 trillion far easier.

This is business as usual here in our nation's capital, and it is bankrupting America.

Senator Johnson to President Obama: "Don't Kill These 200,000 Jobs."
On Wednesday, I voted to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing the proposed Utility MACT regulation. The regulation will have an annual cost of nearly $10 billion, kill the jobs of approximately 200,000 Americans currently employed, and kill jobs that might have been created over the next several years.

In the worst recession in 70 years, who would actively destroy American private sector jobs, increase the cost of energy and American products, and deter future hiring and creation of new jobs? The answer is President Obama and his EPA. It is not only an outrageous action, it is just plain dumb. It is another example that our President lacks a basic understanding of how the American economy operates and how jobs are created.

In 2008, Mr. Obama said that under his policies, the price of electricity would "necessarily skyrocket.' If this Utility MACT regulation goes into effect, that will indeed occur. It is estimated that EPA's new utility rules will increase electric rates by up to 19 percent in some areas. And when combined with another proposed rule -- the Cross State Air Pollution Rule -- it will increase electric rates in Wisconsin by nearly 22% by 2016. As it increases electric rates, it is estimated that this rule will kill between 180,000 and 215,000 jobs between now and 2015. If Mr. Obama is actually open to new ideas to improve the economy, here's one: don't kill these 200,000 jobs now.

Under President Obama's budget, our debt will go from $10.6 trillion on the day he took office to $25.9 trillion in 2022. That's an increase of 260 percent.

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