U.S. Sen. Grassley: Delivers weekly Republican address

http://www.iowapolitics.com/printerfriendly.iml?Article=152204 ^ | 3/14/09

[cc2k]

U.S. Sen. Grassley: Delivers weekly Republican address

3/14/2009

‘The President and his allies in Congress want to spend too much, tax too much, and borrow too much’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released the following weekly Republican address.

Audio of the address is available here

Video of the address is available here

Full transcript of Senator Grassley’s address:

“I’m Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. I serve as the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which handles all tax legislation.

“The President of the United States has the pleasure of leading the country in the best of times, but the responsibility for digging us out of the worst.

“He has to govern in the present and build confidence for the future.

“Right now, Americans need jobs. They want Washington to fix only what it can, without destroying opportunities for the next generation.

“The President’s programs don’t connect all the dots.

“His plans fail to recognize that Americans are not an endless source of tax dollars to pay for government spending.

“The President’s proposed budget raises taxes. For the vast majority of people who earn less than $200,000, raising taxes on higher earners might not sound so bad.

“Yet a lot of small businesses are in that category. The landscaper or the general contractor with a dozen employees could land in the bull’s eye.

“Tell these business owners their taxes will go up. Odds are, they’ll cut spending. They’ll cancel orders for new equipment, cut health insurance for their employees, stop hiring, and lay people off.

“These small businesses happen to create 74 percent of all new private sector jobs in the United States.

“Meanwhile, the President’s budget includes a tax increase on more than half of small businesses with 20 or more employees. Businesses of that size account for two-thirds of the small business workforce. The tax increase is equal to 20 percent of the marginal tax rate paid by those small businesses.

“Ask people what number of jobs they’re willing to sacrifice right now. To a person, they’ll tell you zero.

“The Administration also wants to cut the tax deduction for giving to charity. Even the Tax Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank, says this would mean $9 billion less for philanthropy.

“The Administration’s proposal to reduce the carbon production could amount to an average hidden tax increase of around $3,000 per household a year. In effect it’s a national sales tax on energy.

“All of these tax increases would be the biggest tax increase in history.

“That’s not all: Even if every one of these tax increases goes on the books, this budget still nearly triples the national debt by 2019.

“The President and his allies in Congress want to spend too much, tax too much, and borrow too much.

“Somebody has to pay -- if not the middle class now, then later. Eventually the middle class gets hit.

“Meanwhile, if taxes get too high, people drop out of the workforce and pay less taxes.

So higher taxes don’t bring in more money.

“Government spending is a pretty inefficient way to create jobs anyway. Economists say the new stimulus bill will cost $787 billion to create or save 2.5 million jobs -- one million fewer than promoted by the Administration and congressional supporters. It amounts to $315,000 for each job created or saved.

“It’s very simple. The government doesn’t create wealth. It expends wealth.

“No wonder then the public is skeptical about Washington trying to fix the economy with one massive spending bill after another. It’s hard to convince taxpayers that more deficit spending is the answer.

“There’s evidence that the President and his people understand this, even if their budget doesn’t show it. They say they don’t want to raise taxes until 2011 because the economy is too weak.

“Well, if the President admits that tax increases hurt the economy, that will be true in two years as it is true today. Americans need leadership, and they need confidence now. They need their President and their elected representatives to connect all the dots. Jobs are hard-won. The government should first, do no harm. Thank you for listening.”

[cc2k]

This would be stronger if he presented a better alternative.

[Moonman62]

Too bad the GOP didn’t lead by example when there was a Republican president.

[G.Mason]

U.S. Senator?

Thanks for the clarification Iowa.

One never knows when the Rinopublicans may try to stick in a clone from 0Bama Lama Land to give their weakly address.

Must be disconcerting to be moving so often.

[pepsionice]

I listened to Grassley’s speech. I’d rate the content at 2-star at the best...given by a 1-star speaker.

[Common Sense 101]

Agreed. Further evidence that the Republican party has no one, absolutely no one, that is both willing and able to communicate conservative principles and viewpoints to the masses. Very few of the Beltway pansies even know what they are... Pathetic.

[IbJensen]

Grassley is another useful idiot.

[CORedneck]

The thing with Democrats, they never liked small businesses too much. They would prefer you to work in a large corporation where you can be more easily controlled. Someone who has financial independence is considered a "threat to society".

Wal-Mart has a reputation on treating their people badly and guess who sat on their board ? Hillary Clinton. When I worked for one manager who was a micro-manager, he was a liberal democrat.

[cc2k]

Moonman62 wrote:

Too bad the GOP didn’t lead by example when there was a Republican president.

I think you're right there. But I don't just blame the GOP elected officials and leadership. There is a problem at the grass roots as well.

Too many times, people on forums just like this raised red flags about Republican spending programs. And too many times, alleged "Conservative Republicans" defended the bad choices being made by the Republican Congress, saying, "They have to do this to get re-elected."

The results were predictable, and 2006 and 2008 weren't any surprise to true conservatives. If voters are given a choice between a tax and spend Republican "Conservative" who is doing these things for purely political motives, and a tax and spend Liberal Democrat who do these things because they believe in them, they don't elect (or re-elect) the phonies.

At this point, the conservative grass roots has to change their tactics.

• Elect any conservative candidate, regardless of party.
• Watch the Washington agenda closely. Write letters, faxes and emails to your representative and Senators letting them know where you stand and what you expect of them.
• Watch how your Congress Critter and Senators actually vote. Follow up with "thank you" messages when they vote right, and "I'm disappointed" messages when they vote against your interests.

Part of the problem is the "polls" by Party Propaganda Ministry Outlets (formerly "media outlets") are often skewed. Politicians in Washington watching the polls are getting misinformation. We need to make our own voices heard. Fortunately, sending a fax or email to your Congress Critter or Senator is pretty easy to do. And that bypasses the liberal filter of the Party Propaganda Ministry polls.

[mosesdapoet]

What a sitzziation ! Why the Republicans are taking this line ? Defence of the system the socialists are destroying to justify their political existance because thats what this is just blows my mind.

The facts are the system is broken, Grassley in defence of the system cites a plan, without being asked feeling it necssary to respond because it was alledged the opposition party offered no counter offer .

Instead of attacking corruption by the socialists in power,or citing the misery an inept administration driven by ideology big government is causing the American people comes up with a counter offer instead of identifying the problem. http://www.theusmat.com/

[MamaTexan]

Too bad the GOP didn’t lead by example when there was a Republican president.

I don't know about you, but I've watched the 'Pubs play this game for years. They seem to have a pair when they have no power, but once in power, they bend over like the Rockettes.

[Reagan being an exception, of course]

[cc2k]

CORedneck wrote:

The thing with Democrats, they never liked small businesses too much. They would prefer you to work in a large corporation where you can be more easily controlled. Someone who has financial independence is considered a "threat to society".

I'm not sure who historically has protected small business. I suspect that most of the "small business" exemptions in the law were promoted by the Republicans.

Now that the Dems have such complete control, I expect that the heavier regulation that is coming won't have exemptions for small businesses. The "Employee Free Choice Act" has no small business exemption that I can find. There was an article about this earlier this week. The exemption dates way back, and is for businesses with gross revenues (not net, gross) under $50,000 annually, and for retail businesses up to $500,000 in annual sales. These number go way back and have never been adjusted for inflation. So the EFCA will apply to almost every business in the USA with any employees at all.

But getting everyone working for big businesses is definitely a goal for the left. If you work for a mean, evil big business, you need unions even more. You need government to regulate your employer to "protect" your rights even more. It makes you more dependent on government.

So, putting small businesses out of business is probably a hidden goal of much of the new Obama agenda. He can't say that's what he's trying to do. But I think that is the direction he wants to go.

[The Great RJ]

Grassley is a nice guy but isn’t a polished presenter. Same for Bobby Jindal. Both don’t come across well and lack that “fire in the belly” to sway people. Thus the Republican message is falling flat. Bring out Sarah Palin to do the next Republican rebuttal and see how things get stirred up.