Congressman Kevin Brady Weekly Republican Address 10/17/09 VIDEO FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

Congressman Kevin Brady Weekly Republican Address 10/17/09 VIDEO FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

Hi, I’m Congressman Kevin Brady. I’m proud to represent southeast Texas in Congress, and serve as the lead House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, which keeps tabs on America’s economic health.

There are three big myths hurtling around Washington these days: no jobs equals an economic recovery, government-run health care will make it more affordable and deficits don’t matter.

The American public – to their credit – isn’t buying any of these.

Start with the economy. We’re all pleased to see the stock market go up, but middle class America knows hundreds of thousands of jobs are disappearing each month. Many of them may never reappear.

As families in my communities and across the country watch the national unemployment....

...rate close to topping double digits -- with very few real signs of relief ahead -- they have one question for the White House: ‘Mr. President, where are the jobs?’

Last January, the White House promised us all that if Congress passed the massive trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill, jobs would be created immediately and the unemployment rate would stay under eight percent.

Well, since then, nearly 3 million more Americans have lost their private sector jobs. Over 2 million have simply quit looking for work because they are so discouraged. And that’s frightening. And over 9 million Americans are working part time because they can't find a full time job. And those who do worry if they’ll be the next person standing in the unemployment line.

The truth is: no jobs, no recovery. Let’s finally admit America’s recovery can’t be built on the unsteady Democratic doctrine of spending more, borrowing more and higher taxes. It’s failing our families.

The second myth, that government-run health care will make it more affordable? Americans inherently know government interference drives costs up, not down. The massive health care plans being crafted behind closed doors in Washington will ultimately allow the government to decide what doctors we can see, what treatments the government thinks you deserve and what medicines you can receive.

The Democrats’ plans are loaded with new federal mandates and higher taxes on insurance plans, treatments and equipment – all of which will be passed down to patients. New taxes on professionals and small businesses will drive jobs out of our economy and push more families into a government-run plan.

At a time when families and workers want more choices and more options, Democrats in Washington are bent on creating a one-size fits all plan that Americans can just take or leave. By the way, these same Democratic members of Congress are making sure they and their families aren’t included in the plan. That should tell you something.

The third myth: deficits don’t matter? Tell that to your kids and grandkids and see what they have to say thirty years down the road.

Whether it’s wasteful stimulus spending, a cap-and-trade national energy tax that will put millions more out of work, or the trillion dollar health care experiment, congressional Democrats in Washington are boring new holes in our economic ship at a time when employers throughout America need a life preserver to help them stay afloat.

Liberal policies that will keep people out of work longer will only make the deficit worse. Americans know that deficits matter to our dollar, to our economy, to our future.

The federal budget deficit tripled to a record 1.4 trillion dollars this year. The government spent 199 billion dollars on interest alone -- or almost 10 times the entire budget for NASA.

Under the Obama Administration’s budget, our country is set to rack up 6.7 trillion dollars in debt over the next decade -- almost equal to all the federal debt accumulated in our nation’s history.

Democrats in Washington continue to pursue costly policies that tax too much, spend too much and borrow too much, all of which are discouraging small businesses from job creation and innovation while launching our national debt into the stratosphere.

Make no mistake, our children and grandchildren will end up buried under a mountain of debt if we continue down this dangerous path of taxing, spending and borrowing.

Let’s set aside the myths. Let’s get real.

Real economic growth starts when the people who have taken the hardest hit in this recession -- our small businesses -- get back to creating jobs. It's what these businesses that employ more than half our nation's workforce do best. Republicans want to give them new tax relief tools and get out of their way.

Republicans remain hopeful that this deep and painful recession will soon run its course, but Americans deserve better than a jobless recovery, which is no real recovery at all for American workers and families. Americans deserve affordable health care. And they deserve a nation that can pay its debt and live within its means.

That’s what Republicans believe. That’s what will create the jobs that will grow our economy and put our nation back on the path to long-term prosperity. This is Congressman Kevin Brady. Thanks for listening. ###