Rep. Pence on Obama’s Tax Increases
This morning, Rep. Mike Pence, one of the brightest new stars in the GOP, took time to do an interview with FNC’s Jon Scott. Here’s a transcript of that interview:
Jon Scott: Democrats call it a blueprint; Republicans say it’s a target. Some of them are labeling the $3.6 billion [sic] plan a higher tax, weaker economy job killer. Indiana Congressman, Mike Pence, one of the critics of the plan, he joins us now.
Rep. Mike Pence: Hi, Jon.
Scott: You say that Republicans lost the legislative battle here but actually won the argument. Congressman Pence, can you explain that?
Rep. Pence: Well, I think we won the argument on the stimulus bill and on the massive omnibus bill. I think the American people know we can’t borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy, and that is the fundamental flaw behind the President’s budget proposal. A President’s federal budget proposal ought to put fiscal restraint and jobs first, and this proposal, which involves massive increases in federal spending and tax increases on virtually every American, does exactly the opposite. I think it’s a prescription for economic decline.
Scott: You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little bit slow on this; I’m having trouble hearing you. But I wanted to ask you this question: You know, President Bush was in power, was in office, when we finished out 2008. We just got those budget numbers that suggest the economy was worse than expected, down 6.2% in the final quarter of 2008. Do you think that voters are going to hold that against Republicans?
Rep. Pence: Well, I think voters are going to hold it against Washington, D.C.; I think they’re going to hold it against leadership in both parties if we don’t do the right thing from this point forward. And most Americans know that increasing federal spending, as we did in the stimulus bill, as we did this week in the omnibus bill and as the President is calling for in this massive new budget, which includes all kinds of new government spending. And adding to that, Jon, massive tax increases that touch almost every American, that’s no prescription for getting this economy growing again; it’s no prescription for creating jobs or ultimately achieving the goal of a balanced budget. I really believe the American people want to see Congress put jobs and fiscal restraint first.
Scott: Well, right there is a huge disagreement with the President; he says there will be not a dime’s tax increase for 95% of Americans.
Rep. Pence: Yeah, I heard that. I was in the Well the other night. But people deserve to know a couple of things. Number one, the President’s call for raising taxes on Americans that make more that $250,000 a year, Jon, according to a liberal tax policy group here in Washington, more than half of the Americans who file at that level are actually small business owners filing as individuals. So if you think raising taxes on small businesses in this country will help create jobs, I think you’ve got another thing coming. The other thing that the President neglects to mention…Democrats and this Administration just raised taxes on smokers and in the President’s plan he wants to raise taxes on capital gains and dividends. That’s going to hit retirees. That’s going to hit every American’s pension fund. Look, virtually every American is going to be touched by the tax increases. It’s just wrong, in a recession, to raise taxes on virtually every American. Herbert Hoover raised taxes during a recession and it drove us into a depression. That’s why many of us here in Washington believe that the President’s budget is a blueprint for economic decline.
Scott: Well, if in fact that is what Republicans, in general believe, given the fact you have smaller numbers in the House and the Senate and you don’t have the White House anymore, what kind of power do you have to change things?
Rep. Pence: Well, I always tell my colleagues in the House, Jon, that a minority in Congress plus the American people equals a majority. I think when the American people take a look at this pattern, which is more spending and more debt, and now on top of it more taxes on virtually every American, I think the American people are going to rise up, they’re going to say, ‘look, we want Washington D.C. doing what every one of us are doing,’ and that is practicing fiscal restraint, finding places to save dollars, and ultimately pursuing policies that don’t put a higher tax burden on working families and small businesses.
It’s important that we harp on the fact that President Obama just finished signing the stimulus bill but now he’s submitting a budget blueprint that calls for a trillion dollar tax increase that lands mostly on small businesses. That’s stupid considering the fact that small businesses are the job creation engine for the economy.
The question we’ve got to ask every Democrat is whether they’ll pass this monstrous tax increaase on small businesses. If they say they will pass it, then they should be asked what they’ve got against job creation.
President Obama had better tread lightly. Tea parties are are drawing visceral reactions from anti-tax increase protesters. The Fort Worth Telegram wrote this about the Fort Worth protest:
Chanting “No more pork!” and “No more bailouts!” a few hundred “tea party” protesters stood outside a west Fort Worth sports bar for hours Friday, cheering and waving signs at passing drivers to protest the Obama administration’s economic stimulus program.
“I bet there’s not a single person here today who wants to pay their neighbor’s mortgage,” Tarrant County Republican Chairwoman Stephanie Klick said to yells and applause.
Tampa Bay held a protest, too:
“We wanted to let the people in Washington know how angry we are about the stimulus bill,” said John Hendricks, a Tampa-based consultant who organized the gathering. Hendricks said he and many others think government spending is out of control.
“We’ve got to do something about it before it’s too late,” he said.
It’s obvious that people don’t trust President Obama’s radical agenda. That’s what’s driving their visceral reaction to his policies.
They held a span waterfront Tea Party event in St. Louis Friday:
Dana Loesch, a radio host on 97.1 FM, had talked up Friday’s rally and served as emcee. Signs waved around her included, “Pork, the new ‘Red’ meat,” and “King Barack III and the House of Lards.”
Jackie Smith, former tight end for the old St. Louis football Cardinals, said, “We are mad as hell and we need to stay mad as hell. Don’t let up.”
Megan Dunham of Maplewood brought her four daughters with some painted signs “because it’s important that the kids take part.” She said it was her first protest. “All I’d ever done before is yell at the TV. This is exciting.”
Ms. Dunham’s reaction is telling. It doesn’t sound like she’s a political activist. Nonetheless, she showed up because President Obama’s policies have animated her in ways that cookie cutter politicians couldn’t have.
Oklahomans are upset with the stimulus bill and President Obama’s policies:
There was no tea, and Boston Harbor is about 1,500 miles away. But more than 300 people gathered Friday outside the state Capitol for a “taxpayer tea party” to protest the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package.
“We want to send one message to Congress: We don’t want a bailout,” said Stuart Jolly, Oklahoma director of Americans for Prosperity. The group has helped sponsor similar events across the country, including in Chicago, Los Angeles and Tulsa. “There’s other ways to stimulate the economy, and this isn’t it.”
Jolly said tax cuts would be better to create jobs and get people back to work.
The event was held to let people voice frustration over Congress voting to approve the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
One of the things that’s driving the anti-pork protests is the fact that people are upset that Congress didn’t even bother reading the bill before voting on it. They’re also upset with the mortgage bailout because (a) it’s expensive and (b) they don’t think it’s fair that the 92 percent of mortgage holders who pay on time don’t think their taxes should be increased to pay for those that made bad decisions.
Technorati Tags: Mike Pence, Taxes, Fiscal Restraint, Tea Party, Republicans, President Obama, Bailouts, Tax Increases, Democrats
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
March 10th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
With all due respect to the conservative Republicans, we are in need of a third political option. One that actually holds true to it’s stated beliefs. I have always voted for fiscal responsibility and restraint (ie Republican) and yet the number of Republicans stuffing earmarks into our country’s budget and then blaming the Democrats for voting for it is shameful.
I know it is a long shot to wish for a viable third option to shake up the established parties but if they continue to disappoint the American public at their current rate they may yet unite a number of the moderate Left and Right. The country would benefit from a large number of politicians losing their jobs.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
It sounds like you’re creating problems yourself by trying to solve this issue instead of looking at why their is a problem in the first place