My post on # 56 has a link to his spending cut proposals.
His website lists;
Rick Santorum believes that to have a strong national economy, we must have strong families. America’s government must recognize this and help create a positive pro-family environment for our families, our communities and our businesses. Rick believes we are a land of opportunity where all Americans have the chance to rise on their own merits and hard work. Sadly, President Obama believes just the opposite and using class warfare to divide America.
Rick Santorum is committed to celebrating the family by reviving our economy and creating jobs in America again with a smarter and simpler tax code. Santorum will roll back job-killing regulations, force the federal government to shrink and live within its means by passing a Balanced Budget Amendment and reinvigorate our domestic manufacturing and energy potential. His vision for America is to restore America’s greatness through the promotion of faith, family and freedom.
MADE IN AMERICA: EMPOWERING AMERICAN FAMILIES, BUILDING ECONOMIC FREEDOM
1.Cut and simplify personal income taxes by cutting the number of tax rates to just two - 10% and 28% returning to the Reagan era pro-growth top tax rate
2.Simplify the tax code and reduce middle income taxes by eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
3.Simplify the tax code, encourage savings and investment and reduce taxes by eliminating the Death Tax
4.Lower the Capital Gains and Dividend tax rates to 12% to spur economic growth and investment
5.Reduce taxes for families by tripling the personal deduction for each child
6.Reduce and simplify taxes for families by eliminating marriage tax penalties throughout the federal tax code
7.Retain deductions for charitable giving, home mortgage interest, healthcare, retirement savings, and children
8.Eliminate the cap on deductions for losses incurred in the sale of a principle residence
9.Cut the corporate income tax rate in half to make our businesses competitive around the world, from 35% to 17.5%
10.Eliminate the corporate income tax for manufacturers – from 35% to 0% - which will spur middle income job creation in the United States and will create a job multiplier effect for workers
11.Spur innovation in America by increasing the Research & Development Tax Credit from 14% to 20% and make it permanent
12.Eliminate the tax on repatriated taxable corporate income – from 35% from 0% - when manufacturers invest in plant and equipment; and reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 5.25% on other repatriated income and allow for 100% expensing for new business equipment
13.Repeal and Replace ObamaCare with market based healthcare innovation and competition to improve America and America’s health and create jobs
14.Reduce Federal (non-defense discretionary spending) to 2008 levels through across the board spending cuts;
15.Eliminate all energy and most agriculture subsidies within four years letting the markets work, eliminate resources for job killing radical regulatory approaches at the EPA and refocus its mission on safe and clean water and air and commonsense conservation, eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and support adoption, reduce funding for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for extreme positions undermining economic freedom, eliminate funding for implementation of ObamaCare, and eliminate funding for United Nations organizations that undermine America’s interests
16.Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution capping government spending at 18% of GDP
17.Support Legislation to Reform the Congressional Budget Process and support legislation that requires Congress to pass constitutionally required spending bills or forfeit its members’ pay for the next fiscal year
18.Eliminate all other Obama era regulations with economic impact over $100 million
19.Negotiate 5 Free Trade Agreements and submit to Congress in first year of Presidency
20.Tap into America’s vast domestic energy resources to power our 21st century economy without picking winners and losers so all American families and businesses can have lower energy cost
21.Unleash innovation in telecommunications and Internet consumer options by getting government out of the way which will expand productivity and lower costs
22.Reform Social Security and Medicare for sustainable retirements
23.Block Grant Medicaid, Housing, Job Training, and other social services to the States
24.Freeze current non-defense related federal worker pay levels for a year and reduce federal workforce by at least 10% with no compensatory increase in the contract workforce.
25.Secure our border, streamline the legal immigration process to attract highly skilled talent and entrepreneurs from around the world and reform the agriculture worker program so it works for America’s farmers
26.Reclaim the role of parents as the decision makers in their children’s education and incentivize the states to promote parental choice and quality educational options because the family is the foundation of the economy
27.Promote tort reform and alternatives to litigation for federal policies and programs; and incentivize the states to expand these reforms across our economy
28.Approve the Keystone Pipeline and other job creating initiatives delayed and burdened excessively by government regulation
29.Overturn the National Labor Relations decision preventing Boeing from opening up its airplane factory in South Carolina and prevent other decisions like it
30.Phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s government backed role in mortgages and homeownership within five years
31.Audit the Federal Reserve and return it to it’s original purpose – a single charter to only manage inflation
32.Strengthen our national security and national defense so that we are not dependent upon our foes or competitors for critical manufacturing, technology, energy and other security needs
During his time in public office, Senator Santorum was a strong advocate for a family and small business-friendly tax code, serving as the point man to pass the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 that revitalized our economy after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. For his work on reducing the tax burden on all Americans, Senator Santorum has received praise from groups ranging from the Club for Growth to Americans for Tax Reform and the National Federation of Independent Business.
For Energy, his plan is;
America’s energy policy is critical to our national security and economic growth. Dependence upon foreign sources of oil limits our national security options, undermines our interests, and raises the cost of doing business in America. Unfortunately, President’s Obama’s approach has facilitated foreign dependence by restricting oil and gas drilling, making it more difficult to get nuclear permits, and picking winners and losers through failed pet energy projects. We must employ a policy that makes energy more affordable, makes our nation more secure by lessening dependence on unreliable or adversarial foreign sources, and increases conservation through efficient use and diverse energy sources. An effective energy policy will expand economic development and create high-quality jobs, resulting in a strong economy for America’s families and workers. It is time to get serious about unleashing America’s domestic energy sources.
For example, in my home state of Pennsylvania market forces are being used to explore for natural gas. Some experts predict that this exploration will create up to 200,000 jobs by 2020. This has contributed to dramatically lower natural gas prices for consumers, transformed struggling rural communities, created additional revenue for state and local governments, and helped the environment through expanded use of natural gas.
The policies of President Obama have moved us in exactly in the wrong direction. These job killing policies and increased regulatory barriers and burdens have made oil and gas exploration a low priority for America, virtually halting exploration. The President punted on the Keystone Pipeline and opened the door for China. Furthermore, Obamanomics has done nothing to fix a broken and burdensome energy regulatory process and has instead added to the burden. His philosophy and policies only limit growth and development in the energy sector and increase the cost of energy for all Americans. We need a strong energy policy that removes barriers, invigorates the American entrepreneurial spirit that spurs research and innovation, and unleashes a robust energy economy.
Energy independence is more important than ever to ensure our national security. Nations like Venezuela and Iran have threatened to use oil and gas as political and economic weapons by manipulating the marketplace or interrupting supplies. Countries such as Brazil, France, and Canada are creating their own energy independence through energy sources such as biomass, nuclear, and natural gas. Unfortunately, President Obama continues to burden and restrain our energy potential rather than unleash it. That is the job of the private sector and the consumer—not government. We need to tap all energy sources in a responsible fashion to kick-start our economy and preserve our independence and freedom as a nation.
Core Principles
• Create energy security and independence for the U.S. to strengthen our national security and decrease reliance on unreliable and adversarial nations.
• Develop an energy policy that is consistent, uniform, and predictable for long-term economic growth.
•Rely on market forces and private sector research and development capabilities to provide Americans with clean, affordable energy through competition.
•Remove harsh regulatory restrictions on oil and gas research and exploration.
•Expand domestic innovations and energy resources. This includes oil, natural gas, hydro, biomass, wind, solar, clean coal, and nuclear energy.
•Encourage economic growth creating U.S. jobs and bringing us back on the road to growth and opportunity.
•Reduce energy costs for family budgets and business expenses.
Policies
• Remove bans on drilling—both onshore and offshore. This would immediately increase supply, create jobs, and bring revenues to the federal and state governments.
•Continue promoting private sector drilling techniques for natural gas. More than half of U.S. households use natural gas for heat, and a quarter of the nation’s electricity is made from it.
•Eliminate all energy subsidies and tax credits. This will prevent the federal government from picking winners and losers in our effort to unleash all of America’s domestic energy sources.
•Immediately approve the construction of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. Construction of this pipeline would deliver an additional 700,000 to 830,000 barrels of oil per day to the U.S. and would create 20,000 jobs.
•Repeal bureaucratic regulations such as EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations, Utility MACT, Boiler MACT, Cement MACT, the reclassification of coal ash, and any regulation of farm dust.
•Restructure the priorities of the Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE spends an exorbitant amount of money on technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and alternative-energy vehicles. All of these energy sources and technologies are currently available, but they are not yet commercially viable because of burdensome regulations or because they are still prohibitively expensive. It is not the government’s role to force these technologies into the market place
Still, I am not seeing How he plans to accomplish any of that. On job applications, we typically require an applicant to give us a STAR, Situation, Skill, Action, Result, to demonstrate their competency and that they understand the job they are applying for. Past Performance is key.
Newt seems to do that naturally. I like his tax plan better, and frankly, some of Rick’s Energy plan and tax plan is taken from Newt’s ideas. If he can take those ideas and get them done, good enough.
I’m afraid that we may get to the general election on a shallow foundation made up of “He’s Not Obama” instead of informed voters motivated to go to the polls because they are inspired and confident that the person they are voting for knows How to quickly stop the bleeding and begin the healing. Again, I need to know how Rick intends to do that. Newt’s message on his Day 1 in office is pretty doggone impressive and his past performance is proof he knows how to do it. If Rick doesn’t deliver a great message on why we should vote for him, and stop preaching, voters are going to stay home.
He can’t run on his record in the Senate and make much headway. There is a lot of big government spending there that is not going to sit well with folks. What people have done in the past legislatively, carries more weight than promising to do the exact opposite if they are elected this time. Only Democrats get away with that stuff.
This is the vetting that Palin talks about and all the candidates have to go through it to get better. I find it troubling that Rick lost by such a wide margin in his last race in PA. Unless you have really angered the voters, that is unheard of for an incumbent. I hope he is prepared to explain that better than I’ve heard so far, because it will be an issue in the general election.
Thanks for your post and taking the time to put something out there for folks to weigh.
Good stuff... thanks for posting!!