Political Quotes

On the recordDecember 4, 2010
Mr. President, I think the American people, when they voted this year, were saying one thing: We want to keep the main thing, the main thing. To the American people, the main thing is getting the economy growing again and creating jobs. Almost everything that has been done here in Congress in the last couple of years has been the exact opposite of that. You have seen policies put into place that increase the cost of doing business in this country and make it more difficult for small businesses to create jobs. So here we are today debating what evidently has become the Democratic economic theory, which is to raise taxes to create jobs. We have seen this in play throughout the last couple of years. The cap- and-trade bill was a tax on energy. It didn't get through the Senate because we were prepared to stop it, but it passed in the House of Representatives and was headed here. The health care bill raised taxes on medical device manufacturers and drug companies and health insurance plans, all of which is going to get passed on to small businesses in the form of higher insurance premiums. Here we are debating a frontal, direct tax increase on small businesses. It is the most astounding theory on how to create jobs I have ever seen--raising taxes to create jobs. That hasn't worked in practice. The Senator from Iowa eloquently pointed out that, historically, if you go back over the past half century, not only does it not create jobs, it doesn't generate additional revenue.…
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John Thune
Republican · South Dakota

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