Date: 2011-06-13
Speaker: HERRERA BEUTLER (republican)
Chamber: H

Thank you. I appreciate my friends work here on the floor. I just came back from a week in my home district in southwest Washington. Its a tremendous place. Its where I grew up. Some of my fondest memories are in and around southwest Washington. whether it was lakes or rivers or streams or working my first job at the Vancouver Mall. Its not even called the Vancouver Mall anymore. I had a lot of opportunitiesa lot of opportunities that I am very worried the next generation of Washingtonians are not going to have. And let me tell you why. Our unemployment has been over double digits going on 3 years now. Let me read this to you because this is important. These arent just empty numbers. These represent families and lives: Clark County. 10.2 percent. Cowlitz County. 11.9 percent. Lewis County. 13.2 percent. Pacific County. 12.5 percent. Wahkiakum. 11.8 percent. Skamania. 12.9 percent. and Thurston County is at 8 percent. Let me compare those numbers quickly. Im not happy about 8 percent. Im not happy about 13 percent. But theres a slight difference in the reason that the Thurston County numbers are lower than the other counties. and thats because thats where the State government is housed. So there are more government jobs. more public sector jobs in that area. But the rest of the district and even in Thurston County is based on small businesses. These are the hearts and souls of our economy. Small business owners. entrepreneurs. momandpop shops. I got to tour Somarakis Vacuum Pumps. He is an engineer that started a small little company. Built it up. Hes passing it on to his son. Hes now expanded into two counties. He has a vision to grow and hire people. In fact. he has been able to stay afloat these last few years because a lot of the trade that hes done. he deals with other corporations and other countries across the world. which is one of the reasons hes been able to remain competitive. You know what he told me this last week when I was home and I was touring his new facility? He said. JAIMEI wish I could give you his Greek accent. but I canthe said. JAIME. Im a proud American. I built this company because I believe in the entrepreneurial spirit of America. I believe in this country. But you in Washington. D.C.and hes speaking to the governing class hereare making it harder for me to function. Youre making it harder for me to survive: the unpredictability. the high taxes. the new energy proposals. some of which the President has supported. He said. JAIME. if that capandtrade bill went into effect or if you increase my energy taxes through the EPA. I will be out of business. I will not be able to hire the next generation of engineers and pass this company on. And other small businesses around our whole region and around our Nation are saying the same thing: can you give us some predictability. quit raising our taxes. get the EPA off our backs. We all want to protect our way of life. but whats happening right now is small business owners. the job creators. are being squeezed. And why? I was reflecting on. its true. neither the Senate nor the President has put forward a really strong governing jobs agenda this year. When we got to meet with the President a couple of weeks ago. he pointed to some of the bills that they passed last year. and some of the plans. If I reflect on the $700 billionplus bailout or the $800 billion stimulus or the health care bill that was over a trillion dollars. one would think if we spent that kind of money. we would have the jobs to show for it. But where are the jobs? I just read you the unemployment numbers for southwest Washington State. They have actually not gone up in tremendous rise. So. clearly. borrowing and spending more has. at the very least. a negligible effect. We can do better. We have to do better. The way we do thatstop bailing out big corporations. banks. auto dealers. Right? Stop spending more money. Fast fact: I had some job creators in my office a couple of weeks ago. and they were asking for more investment. And I asked them about the stimulusthe $800 billion stimulus bill that the President and the Democrats here voted on and passed last yearhow much that had actually stimulated job creation. You know what they told me? Less than 3 percent of that number actually went to build roads. Remember the shovelready hurrah that was talked about? Were passing this because were going to build infrastructure. Im one of those who believes infrastructure is important. Less than 3.5 percent was actually used to build roads. Where is the rest of that money? My goodness. we borrowed almost half of that. Were going to pass the interest and the debt on to the next generation. and yet we didnt even use it on what we said we were going to use it on. That tells me that were spending too much. were borrowing too much. Its time to cut back. Every family in southwest Washington and across this Nation has cut their own budget back in recent years. Every small business owner. job creators. they will tell youI have several in my area who havent even taken a paycheck in several years in order that they not lay anyone else off. And theyre looking at us. saying. Why cant you live within your means? Well. guess what? Were going to. Not only are we going to make sensible cuts and reductions. were also going to stimulate job growth. Energy was one of the things I mentioned. In the last couple of months we have passed off this House floor several bills that allow us to drill for energy here in America. using American entrepreneurialism. American innovation. and creating American jobs. I call on our Senate to pass those bills and the President to sign them into law. Theyre saying thousands and thousands of jobs could be created here in America if we simply take advantage of the resources in our backyards. That will do several things. It will drive down the cost of gas. which is going to hit every family and every small business here in the next several months. Thats one immediate step we can take. in addition to cutting back overspending. Thats a jobs production bill. We could also make sure that we allow for some predictability. With these Federal regulations that are coming out. small business owners call me regularly. and say. Good grief. I just barely get one rule under order. and youre sending me five new ones. I cant keep up. Here is the difference. Small businesses. small business owners. they cant just hire someone who is not being productive and just dedicate that persons time to going through Federal regulations. Maybe a big corporation could. one which can retain lots of lobbyists or lawyers. but at the True Value Hardware on Main Street in Ridgefield. both the owners actually work the store. so they cant just waste money to jump through government regulations and government hoops. It has got to stop. Last year. the EPA released 900 new regulations900. Do you know what the EPA acting director for the water department told us on the Transportation Committee just 2 or 3 months ago? She basically said she didnt have to take into account any of those regulations and their impact on our economy. That wasnt her concern. Im sorry. Since when does the government put forward regulations and rules and then say. "We dont have any concern for what thats going to do to the economy"? Thats why were in the mess were in now. We can change it. We can take some steps to bring oversight to these regulatory agencies. Man. theyre just going crazy. Were going to work to streamline those. and were going to do it now because House Republicans believe and understand that job creators and job growth occur in the private sector when individuals and entrepreneurs have the freedom to grow and to develop. not when theyre hampered. not when their wrists are tied. not when theyre told. You have to jump through these hoops just to sell your product or just to hire someone. It has got to stop. which is why were putting forward and why House Republicans are proud to put forward bills that are either going to pull back some of these regulations or streamline them. reform them or allow for more American job growth here in the United States. So I appreciate that. and I look forward to hearing what my other colleagues have to say about this progrowth agenda.