WASHINGTON, D.C. – Delivering the Weekly Republican Address, U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) highlights “Pledge to America with measures designed to remove government obstacles to private-sector job growth – the kind of growth the ‘stimulus’ promised but failed to deliver. Republicans have urged President Obama to change course and work together to enact this job creation plan, an invitation Rep. Kinzinger renews here. A member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Kinzinger is in his first term representing Illinois’ 11th Congressional District.
Transcript
Hi, I’m Congressman Adam Kinzinger. I’m humbled by the opportunity to speak to you today as the representative of Illinois’ 11th Congressional District.
“There’s been a lot of talk this week about how our economy isn’t creating enough jobs. I can tell you that here in the president’s home state, every day, we hear about a company that’s looking at leaving or is already on its way out the door. And why? Because taxes are too high, regulations are too burdensome, and the government won’t stop spending money it doesn’t have.
“My constituents have the same questions many Americans do: where are the jobs? What happened to the ‘stimulus’ we heard so much about?
“Like you, I remember the chart the president’s economic team put out, you know, the one projecting that – with the ‘stimulus’ – unemployment would never go higher than eight percent. I remember the press conference where the president said 90 percent of the jobs created by the ‘stimulus’ would be private sector jobs. And there was that interview on CNN where one of the president’s top economic advisers said that jobs would be created ‘immediately.’
“None of those promises panned out. If anything, things have gotten worse. Unemployment is over nine percent. And the share of Americans out of work for more than six months has surpassed Great Depression levels.
“These broken promises speak to a much bigger problem, and that is a government arrogant enough to think it can simply spend, borrow and tax our nation back to prosperity and job growth.
“We can’t continue to follow the same failed agenda that has driven job creators further into doubt and uncertainty. The road to refueling our economy and creating jobs means tackling our debt head on, simplifying the tax code, reining in Washington’s red tape factory, passing pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, and increasing domestic energy production, making our nation more energy secure, which would help lower costs at the pump and create jobs here at home.
“These are some of the steps we need to take to get government out of the way and let our economy grow and get back to producing jobs.
“All these solutions are contained in a job creation plan Republicans put forth not too long ago. This blueprint, which we’re calling ‘A Plan for America’s Job Creators,’ builds on the Pledge to America, a jobs-focused governing agenda that Republicans in the House have been working to implement since Americans entrusted us with the majority. You can check our jobs plan out for yourself at Jobs.GOP.gov.
“When House Republicans met with President Obama at the White House last week, we invited him to work with us to enact our job creation plan. Today, we are renewing that invitation.
“We’ve also made clear to the president that under no circumstances will Republicans support irresponsible legislation which increases the federal government’s credit limit without any spending cuts or budgetary reforms. It is high time that we cut up the government’s credit cards and draw a hard line to stop the government from overspending, which is hampering our economy’s ability to grow and thrive. We must get the government to stop spending more money than we take in and focus our efforts toward growing the private sector, where jobs are created.
“We live in the greatest country in the world and we refuse to accept second best.
“That’s what our jobs plan is all about. Again, you can learn more at Jobs.GOP.gov. Thank you for listening.”