Congressman Pete King

Economy

Long Island is going through challenging economic times. Our biggest priorities should be job creation and economic recovery. Unfortunately, the President's tax-and-spend policies continue to have the opposite effect. Since the $787 billion stimulus legislation was signed into law in 2009, 1.7 million private sector jobs have been lost. Our national debt surpassed a record $15 trillion and will soon exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy, and the unemployment rate is still disgustingly high. The President's healthcare reform legislation will cause even more jobs to be lost.

We need policies that will reduce the deficit and put people back to work. We need legislation that provides tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses, revitalizes the stagnant housing market, encourages banks to lend, and spends responsibly in job-creating industries like infrastructure creation and improvements. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes during a recession when we should be trying to provide incentives to increase employment.

The first step in strengthening our economy is getting control of federal spending. This past year, Congress cut over $60 billion in spending for fiscal 2011. We also reduced spending for fiscal 2012, and succeeded in cutting discretionary spending for two years in a row for the first time since World War II.

I have always fought for policies that are pro-jobs, provide meaningful tax relief, and reduce unnecessary government spending - and I will continue to do so with even greater urgency as we take on this debt crisis.