7/7/11 Republican Leadership Press Conference
Republican Leadership Press Conference
July 7, 2011
Participants:
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL)
Chairman Hensarling:
“Over the July 4th Constituent Work Week, most Members of Congress went back home and talked to their constituents. I can tell you in the 5th District of Texas, the number one question my constituents still have is, ‘Where are the jobs?’
“I personally held about 8-9 town hall meetings, I asked the question of many small business people [about the] national debt— “do you believe one day you will have to pay for it?’ Everybody’s arm went up. ‘Does that make you more likely or less likely to hire more people?’ …It makes them less likely.
“The debt issue -- a spending driven debt -- is a jobs issue. The president has come out to talk about oil and gas and private jets. He’s a little late to the party since in the Republican budget we have already proposed a fairer, flatter, simpler tax code to create more jobs, which is what the American people care about.
“If this was about only dealing with the debt, you would ask the president why is it that his corporate jet loophole is four-hundredths of 1 percent of the additional debt he proposes, and his oil and gas tax provisions are about four-tenths of 1 percent of the spending that he has proposed.
“Again, the American people are asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’ We’ve got to cut the spending if we want to increase the jobs.”
###
For additional information, contact:
House Republican Conference Press Office (conferencepress@mail.house.gov)
