Labor Day always reminds us of the productivity, resilience, ingenuity and spirit of working Americans. They truly are the backbone of the American economy. Unfortunately, too many Americans continue to struggle with unemployment, often for prolonged periods, due to the worst economic downturn in a generation.|From Congressman Tom Latham:
Labor Day always reminds us of the productivity, resilience, ingenuity and spirit of working Americans. They truly are the backbone of the American economy. Unfortunately, too many Americans continue to struggle with unemployment, often for prolonged periods, due to the worst economic downturn in a generation. The American people have been looking to Washington to implement policies that will help stabilize the nation’s economy and put our country back to work, but Washington has responded in recent years with failed and misguided “stimulus” spending binges that have done little to reduce joblessness.
The American people must also hope that Washington doesn’t get in the way of economic recovery with onerous regulations and overreaching policies that restrict the productivity and investment that create jobs. Unfortunately, the Washington of recent years has been a Washington that thinks that the government is the end-all expert on everything ñ including economic recovery. Instead of creating an environment friendly to job creation and economic recovery, we have a federal government that has frozen investment and employers in place with a costly and regulation-heavy federal takeover of health care and attempts at disastrous Cap-and-Trade energy taxes. Other recent policies pick and choose winners in our economy with bailouts, sweetheart deals and waivers that allow some to avoid regulation and federal policies while forcing others to comply with costly mandates.
The plain fact is that the numbers do not lie. With 30 straight months of national unemployment at or above 8 percent, we can’t keep continuing with the status quo policies of the past few years. It simply isn’t working.
But that doesn’t have to be the case. Many serious proposals that take proven, common-sense approaches to boost job creation have passed the U.S. House of Representatives with my support over the past several months, only to run into fierce resistance in the Senate or at the White House. Through my family Iowa agricultural business background, I have an unwavering commitment to creating a pro-growth, pro-jobs environment that dispels economic uncertainty, cracks down on outrageous government regulation and frees American entrepreneurs to expand and invest in our communities. These legislative proposals include strategies to get our country’s fiscal house in order, encourage free trade and implement common-sense energy strategies.
In May, the House passed multiple bills aimed at jumpstarting offshore leasing for domestic energy exploration. In addition, I have been working with some of my House colleagues as part of a legislative action team to develop a comprehensive national energy policy. The price of gasoline continues to cause financial pain for families across the country, and I have long supported an all-of-the-above approach to make energy costs more affordable. That not only means expanded domestic energy exploration, but better conservation practices, development of renewable energy sources and greater use of nuclear energy ñ which also means American jobs.
I’m also in support of pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, but the White House refuses to submit the agreements to Congress because of political concerns. These agreements have the potential to open new markets to American goods and commodities. In particular, Iowa’s agricultural economy stands to gain by the enactment of the free trade agreements. Some estimates predict that Iowa would gain 1,400 agriculture-related jobs and increase direct exports across all agricultural sectors by $162.2 million per year under the agreements. Beyond agriculture, manufacturing jobs would also receive a shot in the arm if the agreements are approved. We simply can’t afford to let politics stand in the way when that many jobs are at stake right here in Iowa.
Finally, this fall I will continue my efforts to bring certainty and sanity back to our economy through a multi-pronged approach at true comprehensive regulation reform. My legislation will eliminate outdated and costly regulations ñ bringing sunshine and the American people’s voices into the regulatory process in the massive halls of Washington’s bureaucracy ñ and force a review and justification of every federal regulation going forward. That means that if a regulation is not having the benefit it was intended, it will sunset off the books and off the backs of America’s employers. This has the potential of bringing a certainty back to America’s workplace that would open the door for massive job creation.
Labor Day is an opportunity to remind ourselves that the American workforce is one of our country’s greatest strengths. Our history has proven time and again that working Americans can achieve great things. But for millions of Americans, the jobs simply aren’t there. The situation is dire, and it is time that Americans expect leaders who will put people before politics and progress before partisanship to change the way Washington works and the work that Washington does to restore the confidence in the American Dream and our economy.
