WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s speech tonight regarding American jobs and the future of our economy:

“While traveling my district in August, I spoke to job creators, workers, and many frustrated constituents about how we must get America working again. The looming threat of new taxation, excessive regulation from agencies like the EPA and impending increases in health care costs all contribute to the worst environment for private-sector job creation in recent history. I had hoped the President would have taken this opportunity tonight, before a Joint Session of Congress, to move past his failed stimulus policies and lay out a framework to remove the uncertainty for job creators. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

“President Obama asked Congress to support his American Jobs Act, a proposal that includes more federal government spending and more debt.  Clearly, President Obama still hasn’t gotten the message that Americans simply do not want more spending.  They want common-sense policies to get Americans back to work and spending under control.   Since Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan, which cost taxpayers $825 billion, America has lost 2.3 million jobs and unemployment climbed to, and remains, above 9%. Neither the President nor his advisors know how to fix this failing economy, and spending more money we do not have will not work any better the second time. It is the wrong approach that will put us even more in debt and leaves the private sector still unwilling to create jobs because of lack of certainty.

“My colleagues and I in the House of Representatives understand what Americans want from a jobs plan.  We have been passing legislation for months that would help get Americans back to work, stop out-of-control spending and put an end to the senseless job-killing regulations of this administration. Giving economic freedom back to the job creators is the only way to get America back on track and provide a more stable economic situation for future generations.”

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