By Rick Manning
Video by Frank McCaffrey
Nancy Pelosi is taking one last upper cut to our nation’s job creators before she goes back to being the leader of a ragtag group of inconsequential leftists in January 2011.
Pelosi clearly is not content with having the jobless rate rise during her four year tenure in the House of Representatives from 4.6 percent when she became Speaker in 2007 to a stunning 9.6 percent in the month her party was voted out of power. No, doubling the unemployment rate is not enough for Ms. Pelosi, before she leaves power she is determined to deliver another haymaker to the reeling economy. Pelosi and her cohorts voted to raise taxes on the nation’s job creators in a flailing attempt to show she is for the “middle class” but not the “rich”.
Ironically, this is the same Pelosi who spent years railing against the tax rates established by Congress in 2001 and 2003, decrying them for years as tax cuts for the rich. Now, by extending tax cuts for “middle class” Americans, she is admitting that in fact, the “Bush” tax cuts actually benefited all Americans, not exactly her campaign rhetoric.
Prior to the House vote, Americans for Limited Government conducted an exclusive video interview with U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) to get his views on the negative impact that raising taxes on our nation’s job creators will have on our nation’s struggling economy.
Senate Republicans have promised to play hardball on the issue stating in a letter to Senator Harry Reid signed by all 41 Republican Senators:
“The nation’s unemployment level, stuck near 10 percent, is unacceptable to Americans. Senate Republicans have been urging Congress to make private-sector job creation a priority all year. President Obama in his first speech after the November election said, ‘we owe’ it to the American people to ‘focus on those issues that affect their jobs.’ He went on to say that Americans ‘want jobs to come back faster.’ Our constituents have repeatedly asked us to focus on creating an environment for private-sector job growth; it is time that our constituents’ priorities become the Senate’s priorities.
“For that reason, we write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.”
The Pelosi legacy of destroying private sector jobs is coming to an end in January, and hopefully the Senate Republicans will stand firm against raising taxes on any Americans.
Rick Manning is the Director of Communications for Americans for Limited Government.
