Congressman John Boehner...
Boehner Highlights ‘Forgotten 15’ Bipartisan Jobs Bills 
October 28, 2011 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Legal Reform Summit this morning, Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) highlighted the ‘forgotten 15’ bipartisan jobs bills that have passed the House but are stuck in the Democratic-led Senate.  The ‘forgotten 15’ are part of Republicans’ Plan for America’s Job Creators, which is designed to remove government barriers to job creation in America.  Boehner talked about how passing the ‘forgotten 15’ is an opportunity to build on areas of common ground, including repealing the three percent withholding tax and the free trade agreements the president recently signed into law.  Following are the video of Boehner’s speech and excerpts from his remarks: 

BOEHNER ON THE ‘FORGOTTEN 15’ BIPARTISAN JOBS BILLS STUCK IN THE SENATE 

“We’ve passed many bipartisan bills out of the House that are sitting over in the United States Senate, at least 15 bills thus far that would help America’s jobs creators if the United States Senate would act.  You know we offered our Plan for America’s Job Creators back in May. … And while, you know, we have very different beliefs between the two parties, the American people expect us to find enough common ground to move the ball down the field.  We’re going to continue to do what the American people sent us here to do.” 

BOEHNER: THE HOUSE IS FOCUSED ON FINDING COMMON GROUND FOR JOB CREATION 

“The House has been focused on trying to create a better environment for job creation all year.  This week we’re going to move a bill to repeal the three percent withholding tax on any business that does government, does business with any level of the government.  It’s a giant mandate on every government agency and government entity because they’ve got to withhold three percent of everything they pay to people in the private sector.  … But again part of our jobs bill, part of the President’s jobs bill.  We’re going to be moving the REINS Act.  It really says something very simple: if there’s a new government regulation that’s going to cost at least 100 million dollars … it has to receive an up-or-down vote in the United States Congress.  Today there are 219 such rules that are sitting in these agencies ready to come rolling out and to impose new costs on a private sector that’s struggling to keep its head above water and to create jobs. … You know several weeks ago we passed the three free trade agreements for Colombia, Panama and South Korea, something, again, part of our jobs bill and something that the President has called for as well.  And I’m glad we got them passed, in one day, and glad the president signed them into law.” 

BOEHNER ON LISTENING TO AMERICA’S JOB CREATORS & ADDRESSING EXCESSIVE REGULATIONS 

“We pledged in our Pledge to America a year ago that our job was to listen to the American people and follow their will and we will continue to do that.  We had about a dozen job creators that we invited to Washington to listen to the President’s speech.  One of those job creators was the president of Gibson guitars, somebody that you’re going to hear from later today.  The federal government raided his business because he’s buying imported wood.  … Gallup recently asked small businesses around the country what was their number one concern.  And it might not surprise you to know that it was the continuing regulatory onslaught that’s coming out of Washington.” 

BOEHNER ON FIXING THE TAX CODE TO HELP JOB CREATORS: 

“Second big part of our plan is we’ve got to fix our tax system.  Our tax system is not competitive.  We’ve got the highest corporate tax rate in the world and it needs to be dealt with.  Our target is to get to a top rate of 25 percent for business income and a top rate of 25 percent for personal income, and to do that by weeding out a lot of the overgrowth in deductions, credits and special carveouts.  … If we’re serious about getting our economy going again and making America more competitive we have got to deal with our tax system.” 

BOEHNER ON PAYING DOWN OUR UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT & LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS: 

“The third big part of our plan is to get the burden of our debt and our budget deficit under control.  It’s acting as a wet blanket over our economy.  … This is not rocket science.  In 1990 when I was a candidate for Congress for the first time I said this, I said, the sooner we deal with our entitlement programs and to make the necessary changes so that these programs are sustainable for the long term the easier it will be to make those changes. …  We’re chasing a train that’s running away from us.  10,000 baby boomers are retiring every single day.  That’s 10,000 more people on Medicare, 10,000 more people on Social Security, people living a lot longer, accessing Medicaid services and as a result it’s made our job that much more difficult to try to bring some fiscal sanity to Washington DC.  But if we’re going to create a better environment for job creators in America, we’ve got to deal with the excessive regulations, we’ve got to deal with a tax code that’s not competitive, and we’ve got to deal with our overburdening debt.” 

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