GOP Freshmen: Job Numbers Still Too Weak
Friday’s unemployment numbers were greeted almost unanimously by discontentment from freshmen Republican Congressmen over the direction of the federal government, especially with regard to the Obama administration’s policies on jobs and energy. In turn, the solutions they’ve proposed to boost the economy range from drastic and national to incremental and local.
“We need leadership in Washington, D.C. and President Obama has only provided failed policies that led to these high unemployment numbers, a sluggish recovery, and higher energy costs,” said Congressman Larry Bucshon (IN-08) in a statement Friday.
“It is welcome news that many new jobs were added,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), taking a slightly different approach. “But, we are still in a situation where too many people remain out of work. And the regulation and budget policies of the Obama administration are only making matters worse. Employers are working hard just to survive and keep the employees they have now.”
Many members also cited high energy and gasoline prices as causing additional distress for individuals and families in their area. "All across the Eleventh District, Illinois families are sapped with high energy costs that directly impact them at the pump and create consumer uncertainty which translates to less confidence in the markets,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-11).
Rep. Ben Quayle (AZ-03) said that Republicans are making real efforts to combat the pressures that high gasoline prices are having on constituents, especially with regards to pushing for increased domestic drilling.
“[R]ising gasoline prices threaten the limited progress we’ve made in the past few months. That’s why the Republican House on Thursday passed H.R. 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, which requires the Secretary of the Interior to restart domestic energy projects either delayed or canceled by the Obama Administration,” said Quayle.
“As these prices have continued to rise, I along with my House colleagues have been pleading with President Obama to end the drilling moratorium and allow this home-grown energy to enter the market and drive the price down,” echoed Rep. Renee Ellmers (NC-02).
Republican freshmen have also been promoting several ideas which they hope will boost economic recovery. For example, Jeff Denham (CA-19) hoped to recoup billions of taxpayer dollars by introducing a bill that would expedite the process in which federal property is sold off.
This past week Rep. Tom Marino (PA-10) introduced legislation that would freeze most federal hiring, with only limited exceptions like national security concerns.
Freshman Rep. Dennis Ross (FL-12) told FrumForum that while a federal hiring freeze was “an excellent idea… what is truly needed is a reduction in the federal workforce.” The federal government shed a net 2,000 jobs last month.
Ross suggested more drastic changes to boost the economy, telling FrumForum that growth would be boosted by “reducing the corporate tax rate to below European rates”, repealing Obamacare, eliminating the Capital Gains Tax, abolishing the income tax and the IRS, and eliminating most of the funding for EPA operations and most of the programs in the Departments of Labor and Education.
On the other hand, another freshman, Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-01), is focusing on smaller, localized responses – preferring to help organize two job fairs as part of his ‘Getting Granite Staters Back to Work’ initiative.
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