Congressman Canseco's Statement on President's Speech

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8th, 2011

Contact:  Valentina Weis
(202) 225-4511 or Valentina.Weis@mail.house.gov


Congressman Canseco's Statement on President's Speech: "America can no longer afford the same failed policies"

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Francisco “Quico” Canseco issued the following statement after he attended President Obama’s speech delivered in front of a joint session of Congress:

“As Yogi Berra once said, it is déjà vu all over again. The President’s speech tonight is the same lofty rhetoric and failed policies he called for when he took office two years ago. Put simply, this is not a new jobs bill. This is another failed stimulus that will not stimulate the economy –we know this because we have tried this before, just two short years ago when President Obama and the then-Democratic controlled Congress passed the $1 trillion-plus stimulus bill that has failed to bring unemployment below 8% as the Obama Administration claimed at the time.

Attempting to spend and borrow our way to economic prosperity was a bad idea in early 2009, and it is an even worse idea today. We are borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar and spending money we don’t have. As a former small business owner, I know what it takes to get job creators hiring again. We need to restore consumer confidence, and remove the uncertainty in our economy caused by over-burdensome regulations and bureaucratic overreach created in Washington. These same policies are directly preventing businesses all the way from AT&T and Boeing to mom and pop businesses on Main Street from creating jobs right now.

Unfortunately, once again, the President is attempting to play the blame game instead of proposing real solutions.

While the President talks about creating jobs, and getting the economy going again – mere words will not do it, it is time to stop giving speeches and abandon the job crushing policies he’s pursued for the past two years. There are far too many Americans who are willing to work, but cannot find jobs. According to the latest job report, 14 million Americans are unemployed and that number doesn’t take into consideration those who have given up looking for a job. After trying it the President’s way for two years, we have gotten 31 straight months of unemployment at 8% or higher, trillion dollar deficits, and a record $14 trillion debt. President Obama says he got the message from the American people, so I hope he will listen to the message that my constituents delivered loud and clear to me over town halls, Congress On Your Corners, meetings with local businesses and Chambers of Commerce – get government out of the way! We don’t need more spending and taxes, we don’t need more government stimulus and more government debt.

Instead of proposing the same failed policies, the President should look at the common sense legislation the House has passed this year. Here are a number of bills that will help boost job creation, but that the Senate has so far refused to consider:

Job creating bills stalled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid controlled Senate:

The Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act (H.R. 872) , which would halt duplicative federal regulations on farmers and small business owners that are impeding job creation.

The Energy Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 910) , which would stop the federal bureaucracy from imposing a job-destroying national energy tax.

The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (H.R. 2018) , which would restrict the federal government’s ability to second-guess or delay a state’s permitting and water quality certification decisions under the Clean Water Act once the EPA has already approved a state’s program, preventing approval process delays that cost jobs and leave businesses hampered by uncertainty.

The Consumer Financial Protection & Soundness Improvement Act (H.R. 1315) , which would increase consumer protection and government accountability by eliminating the ability of Dodd-Frank’s unelected Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director to unilaterally carry out regulations that hurt job growth.

The Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act (H.R. 1230) , which would help to address high gas prices and support the creation of new American jobs by increasing offshore energy production. The Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act (H.R. 1229) and the Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act (H.R. 1231), which would help to put thousands of Americans back to work by ending the de facto moratorium on American energy production in the Gulf of Mexico in a safe, responsible and transparent manner by setting firm timelines for considering permits to drill.

The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011 (H.R. 2021) , which would streamline the permit process for American energy production to help lower prices and create tens of thousands of new jobs.

The North American-Made Energy Security Act (H.R. 1938) , which would require the federal government to make a determination by a date certain on whether or not it will allow the Keystone XL pipeline expansion, which is projected to directly create 20,000 jobs and support the creation of thousands more, to move forward.

A Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 (H.Con.Res. 34) , With Washington’s failure to control spending hurting job creation in America, the House has passed its budget, while the Senate has not yet considered a budget of its own.

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