GOP Address: Rep. Gardner Talks Energy and Gas Prices

GOP Address: Rep. Martha Roby on Flexibility for Working Parents

May 112013

Photo By Douglas Graham/Roll Call/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — In this week’s Republican address, Alabama Congresswoman Martha Roby spoke about the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013, a bill passed by the House of Representatives this week.

On the eve of Mother’s Day, Roby dove into the details of the bill, which she sponsors. “This bill provides options for working moms and dads who need more time to take care of family responsibilities,” Roby said. “It also demonstrates how applying conservative principles can help working Americans in their everyday lives.”

The bill would allow private sector workers to exchange overtime wages for paid time off. This option, already available to government workers, would allow parents time to “take their child to the doctor, attend a PTA meeting, or make it to a tee-ball game,” says Roby.

“What this bill doesn’t do is change the 40-hour work week or how overtime is calculated,” Roby explained. “The same protections that have been a part of labor law for decades remain, and we’ve added additional protections against coercion or unfair treatment.”

Roby questioned critics of the bill who feel that employers may force workers to take time off instead of overtime pay. “Why should the rules be any different for employees in the private sector? Why should government workers have more freedom in the workplace than everybody else? And why is Washington restricting employers from offering certain benefits that government itself is free to offer.”

Roby concluded by urging the Senate to act expediently on the bill. “I join my fellow House Republicans in urging the Democratic-run Senate to take up this bill and pass it soon.” She also urged President Barack Obama to “listen to the working parents of our country and promise them, he’ll sign this bill into law when it reaches his desk.”

“This bill won’t solve the debt crisis, or fix the President’s healthcare law, or simplify the tax code,” Roby admitted. “But the fact that we can’t solve the big, overarching problems overnight shouldn’t stop us from doing what we can right now to help make life a little easier for working moms and dads.”

GOP Address: House Leader Eric Cantor and the Problem with Taxes

Aug 042012

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — In this week’s Republican address, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor focuses on rebutting the president’s tax proposals, but joins the president in wishing well for the athletes.

“Watching the Olympics this week, I am reminded that one of the things that sets America apart is that ordinary people have the freedom to accomplish extraordinary things,” Cantor states. “Every day I hear from Americans who are ready to do the extraordinary: Open a new business, create new jobs, build a better future for our children and theirs. All they ask is that Washington get out of the way.”

“While we continue to work to provide solutions here at home, we wish our athletes in London the very best,” he said.

Cantor, like his colleagues who have delivered the address before him, says it is imperative to put a stop to the plan by President Obama and Democrats to extend tax cuts for households with incomes less than $250,000. This week, the Democrat-led Senate passed this bill which would allow taxes to increase for wealthier Americans. Meanwhile, House Republicans voted in favor of a bill to stop the impending tax increase set to take effect for all Americans next year.

“The threat of higher taxes and more red tape has our small business owners anxiously sitting on the sidelines rather than starting a new business and hiring another employee,” Cantor says in the address.

He adds, “These men and women know what some in Washington apparently do not, that higher taxes and more regulations do not create jobs. Entrepreneurs do. Red tape and new taxes just make the job of creating jobs that much harder.”

The House leader notes President Obama’s stance on tax increases less than two years ago, saying the president “actually agreed with House Republicans that a tax increase on our small businessmen and women would hurt our economy.”

“This raises the question: does President Obama now believe our economy is doing so well that we can afford to raise taxes on small businesses?” Cantor asks.

Jobs data released Friday showed a jump in the U.S. unemployment rate from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent, despite the addition of 163,000 jobs in June. Cantor says that he is hopeful that Washington can come together on bipartisan legislation that will put the breaks on any tax hikes or red tape that he says would slow down job creation.

“We have made clear our willingness to be here in Washington if the President and Harry Reid will finally decide to join us in a bipartisan solution to stop the massive tax hike,” he says.

GOP Address: Sen. John Barrasso Seeks Health Care Law Repeal

Jun 302012

United States Senate(WASHINGTON) — In the days since the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday to uphold President Obama’s health care law, both Republicans in Congress and the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, have vowed to repeal it. In this week’s Republican address, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso joins his party’s call for repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Calling the law a “failed policy that won’t lower the cost of health care in America,” Barrasso says the president promised that his health care plan would not raise taxes on American families. But Barrasso says President Obama has broken his promise.

“On Thursday, I was in the courtroom as the Supreme Court ruled that the President’s health care law is what the president claimed is was not: a new tax.

On Friday, White House officials insisted that the individual mandate in the president’s health care bill is a “penalty,” not a tax, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the law under Congress’ taxing power.

“For those who can afford health insurance but choose to remain uninsured, forcing the rest of us to pay for their care, a penalty is administered as part of the Affordable Care Act,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Friday.

Still the individual mandate is just one of the president’s “many broken promises,” according to Barrasso.

“He promised lower health care costs, but they keep going up. He promised lower insurance premiums, but they’ve increased $2,400 a family over the past three years. He promised the law would create jobs, but the Congressional Budget Office projects that 800,000 fewer people will have jobs because of this law. He promised it wouldn’t add a dime to the deficit, but the law calls for trillions of dollars in new spending that Americans don’t want,” he says of President Obama’s health plan.

Barrasso added that President Obama also promised to protect Medicare, “but instead he raided $500 billion from our seniors on Medicare — not to strengthen Medicare — but to start a whole new government program for someone else.”

The senator says that repealing the law and replacing it with “real health care reform” is what will “make sure that our heath care system is truly patient-centered, not government-centered.”

“Once we have repealed the law, we will tackle the serious problems that plagued our health care system and are now getting worse,” Barrasso says. “We will replace this law with real reforms that will actually lower costs and improve access to care. We will not make the same mistakes the Democrats made. We will not raise taxes in the middle of a recession. We will not push through a 2,700 page bill the American people can’t afford and don’t want.”

“Now that the Supreme Court has acted, the American people cannot afford for Congress to wait any longer,” he says. “It is time for Washington to repeal the president’s health care law and replace it with real health care reform.”

GOP Weekly Address: Sen. Cornyn Cautions Against ‘Taxmageddon’

Jun 022012

United States Senate(WASHINGTON) — In this week’s Republican address, Texas Sen. John Cornyn warns American’s of ‘Taxmageddon’ — or what the GOP says will be the “largest tax increase in American history” without action by Congress and the president.

“Make no mistake: every single working American will see his or her taxes go up on January 1st absent action,” Cornyn says in the address. “Family budgets will be squeezed even tighter. Disposable income will shrink. And many jobs will be destroyed.”

WATCH Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, deliver this week’s GOP Address:

GOP Address: Rep. Gardner Talks Energy and Gas Prices

Mar 172012

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Cory Gardner (Colo.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee says in this week’s Republican Address that President Obama has failed to deal with rising gas prices and that Americans are fed up. But, he says, the president can still correct the problem by encouraging the Democratic-run Senate to act on energy bills already passed in the House.

Gardner criticizes Obama’s approach to the soaring gas costs, saying, “The most forceful thing the president has done about the high gas prices is try to explain that he’s against them. Americans have the right to expect more from their leaders.”

While Rep. Gardner says that, in fairness, the President has agreed in the past that he’d be willing to work with Republicans on an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy, he adds that the Obama administration has “consistently slowed down or shut down domestic energy production.” An all-of-the-above approach, Gardner says, would mean developing “our own resources — both traditional and renewable” — to lower costs and improve energy security.

As of now, Congressman Gardner says, there are at least seven bipartisan, House-passed energy bills awaiting a vote in the Senate.

“Unfortunately, the president has yet to follow through and urge the Senate to act. He’s just carried on with more of the same,” Gardner says.

Instead, the president has pushed to prevent construction on the Keystone Pipeline, and “called for raising energy taxes, which the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says would actually lead to higher prices,” the congressman adds.

“The longer we let politicians like President Obama continue to block responsible American energy production, the longer our nation will continue to suffer with high gas prices and limited energy security,” Gardner warns.

“Let’s seize this moment, expand freedom instead of government, and secure our energy future once and for all,” he says.

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