Cong. Aaron Schock (R): We cannot tax and spend our way to prosperity

from Cong Schock's office, March 2, 2009

On Tuesday, I sat in the House Chamber and listened to President Barack Obama address a joint session of Congress for the first time. As I sat in the Chamber, I was struck by both the history of the moment and of the messenger. It was a moment all Americans could be proud of, regardless of party affiliation.

During his address, President Obama made a strong commitment to addressing our greatest economic challenges: the ongoing financial crisis, mounting job losses, unrelenting health care costs and the unsustainable path of federal spending.

Unfortunately, the budget released by the administration on Thursday falls short of the President’s inspiring words. Instead, the American people are promised more of the same failed policies. The American people are hurting, and I want to work with the President to get our nation’s citizens back to work. However, the American people know we cannot tax, spend and borrow our way back to a healthy economy.

This budget lays the foundation for the largest federal government in our history, which is not the answer to our challenges. It is when our economy is growing and our small businesses are flourishing that we will have economic prosperity for all. As a country, our policies must incentivize entrepreneurism, investment and risk-taking to stimulate long term economic growth. Only when the private sector is engaged will we see economic growth. Government has a role, but cannot be the sole solution to our economic problems.

Despite the fact that we are in a painful recession, the Administration has chosen to increase taxes on the very same small businesses and investors we rely on to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. Additionally, overly aggressive cap-and-trade taxes will burden struggling American families as they face increasing costs for heating their homes, filling their gas tanks and paying their electricity bills. Now is not the time for these tax increases.

In fairness, there are aspects of the budget I appreciate. I am grateful the President put forth a true budget that lays all expenditures out in the open. One of the failings of the previous administration was their reluctance to truly account for the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also has corrected other past budget flaws, including indexing the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for inflation and acknowledging the budgetary impact of this step.

Where we can find common ground, I will readily work with the President to improve the lives of Americans today – and well into the future. But if reaching compromise means pursuing policies I believe will do more harm than good, I will instead continue to support alternative fiscal policies that promote solid, sustainable economic growth, limit Federal spending to realistic levels, and set a path that ensures our nation can prosper in the future.

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