Congresswoman Deborah Pryce Radio Address
  July 27, 2007

  Listen  |  Download

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello, this is Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, and I have the privilege to represent Ohio’s 15th Congressional District.

All that hustle and bustle you’re hearing from Washington these days is the sound of Democrat leaders scrambling to conjure up of a list of accomplishments before members of Congress head home for an August recess.

The truth is, there just isn’t much for Democrats to brag about these days as they have left in their wake a trail of broken promises and missed opportunities for real accomplishments.

For instance, just this week, the House was set to consider renewal of key legislation that guides our nation’s agriculture policy. This legislation, known otherwise as ‘the farm bill, ensures a necessary safety net for our farmers, allowing them to continue to produce the safest, most affordable food supply in the world, even amid poor harvest seasons or tumultuous markets.

Just 48 hours ago, the House was seemingly on track to pass this critical legislation with a bipartisan vote, when, in an 11th hour move, Democrat leaders blindsided Americans with the news of how they were going to pay for this farm bill: by inserting a $7.5 billion tax increase on some of our nation’s largest employers, thereby putting over 5.1 million American jobs at risk. 

The Democrat Congress has shown its true colors once again. 

Here we had critical legislation ready to pass the House with support from members on both sides of the aisle and Democrat leaders went and traded that bipartisanship in for a massive, job-killing tax hike.

Ostensibly a tax increase aimed at domestic subsidiaries of foreign corporations, this punitive measure hurts businesses you’ve surely heard of -- Food Lion, Nestle and BASF. This tax hike violates trade treaties, it discourages investment in America, and harms our ability to remain competitive in the global economy.

My home state of Ohio is a perfect case in point. Honda of North America began United States production in 1979, initially investing $35 million in Marysville, Ohio.  Today, Honda employs more than 16,000 Ohioans with high paying jobs and total wages exceeding $1 billion annually.  Since opening its doors, Honda has invested more than $6 billion into my state, and its suppliers employ an additional 40,000 Ohioans. 

Tax receipts from Honda and its employees provide much needed revenue to 53 Ohio cities and 43 school districts.  In short, Honda’s presence in Ohio has been indisputably beneficial to both the state and our nation.

And Honda is by no means alone in its contributions. U.S. subsidiaries in Ohio - companies like Phillips, Siemens and Tyco -- employ more than 200,000 Ohioans – that’s more than 4% of our private sector workforce -- and create tens of thousands of high paying manufacturing jobs, something that Ohio really needs. 

We need not sacrifice American manufacturing jobs in an effort to ensure a strong American agricultural economy – the two sectors can and should always coexist. 

That’s why it’s so disappointing that, at a moment when the two parties were set to come together and act on a high priority, Democrats decided to try and sneak through a multi-billion dollar tax increase on the backs of our nation’s hard-working farmers and ranchers. Republicans just won’t stand for it – we will continue to stand on principle and defend your right to freedom from burdensome taxation.

This has been Congresswoman Deborah Pryce. Thanks for listening.