BREAK TRANSCRIPT
I appreciate the gentleman from Arkansas yielding to me.
I have been watching this debate as we discuss what are, to most people, commonsense American values. Hard work, a free enterprise system, and opportunity for all, the American system we all believe in that made our country so great, one of the most prosperous nations in history, the most prosperous nation in the world. And we see it being threatened every day by policies that are coming out of Washington, DC. It is heartache for a lot of us because we see the very principles that built this country being threatened in this very process.
So I'm pleased that the gentleman from Arkansas, the gentleman from Wisconsin, and the gentleman from Colorado are all arguing so passionately today for what they see as the future of the United States of America. I think one of the things that confuses a lot of folks back home is they see both sides of this debate on the floor saying, we're all for jobs. In fact, some people just come down and repeat it, Jobs, jobs, jobs. They say, Where are the jobs? And we just keep saying ``jobs'' over and over again as if that's somehow miraculously going to get the private sector to start creating jobs again.
They have come up with Washington solutions: borrowing and spending, creating jobs in Washington, DC. And what we know is that jobs aren't created here in Washington; they are created at home by small business owners. They are created through the free enterprise system. That's what made our country great.
But I think the reason this debate is so challenging and the reason that we're having such a hard time getting the sides to agree and the two Chambers to agree and the President to agree is because we have different principles by which we are arguing this debate. I want to lay out a couple of very commonsense principles that I wish this Congress could agree to and this government could agree to so that we could move forward with job creation. The first one is, regulations don't create jobs. And if we could get this body to simply agree that regulations don't create jobs, we would be moving a long way down the path toward job creation.
[Page: H6545]
Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Can I interject that overregulation kills jobs?
Mr. YODER. That's absolutely correct.
So the regulations we're putting forward, not only do they not create jobs, but the gentleman from Arkansas is correct, they kill jobs. But yet I hear folks on this House floor, I see folks on the left, I see folks in the media arguing repeatedly that these regulations are actually good for business.
In fact, Robert Reich argued earlier this year, he said, There's no necessary tradeoff between regulations and jobs. In fact, regulations that are designed well can generate innovation as companies compete to find the most efficient solutions. And innovations can lead to more jobs as they spawn new products and industries.
[Time: 16:10]
Regulations don't create innovation. Regulations don't create jobs. They are a job killer. This is a commonsense principle that I know a majority of Americans agree with, and it's one that is completely refuted day after day on this House floor. If we can come to an agreement that regulations don't create jobs, we can get somewhere.
One of the reasons we don't, and you've been debating that this afternoon, is because they create additional burdens, additional hoops and additional challenges for small business owners that we're expecting to create two-thirds of the jobs in this country. In fact, just for fun, I brought down the stack of rules and regulations that have come out just in the last week. Every day, our small business owners have to deal with another one of these. Another one of these. Every day.
There's last Tuesday; there's last Wednesday; there's last Thursday; there's last Friday--a pile of new rules and regulations for business owners. Even if they don't affect them, they still need to read them and follow them and hire folks to be able to respond to them. You talk to folks at home, you say, Are you creating jobs? Are you hiring new folks? They say, We are hiring a few folks in the compliance department. So yes, you might create a new job, but you're killing the jobs in innovation, entrepreneurship, and free enterprise.
The other principle I want to leave with the folks here is that taxes don't create jobs. Taxing and spending doesn't create wealth. That is something that is in dispute on this House floor. If we could get an agreement with both parties that regulations don't create jobs and taxing and spending doesn't create jobs, we would be going a long way to solving this debate.
So when folks at home wonder, Why are they arguing so much? Why can't they ever get anything done? Why aren't they moving forward? Because we're debating basic commonsense principles of the free enterprise system. And folks come down here and argue, Hey, these regulations are good for jobs. Hey, these new tax increases, that's good to create jobs. We're not going to get the free enterprise system going while we're smacking them down with new taxes and new regulations every day.
I appreciate the gentleman from Arkansas, the gentleman from Colorado and others down here having this debate, because it is essential to what it means to be an American in this free enterprise system we all believe in.
http://thomas.loc.gov
