GOP leaders call out Kaine on health-care reform
Fifth District Congressman Robert Hurt joined a pair of Virginia state legislators Thursday in an effort to paint Democratic Senate candidate Tim Kaine as a loyal Barack Obama ally.
“The president’s health-care law has produced devastating effects for Fifth District Virginians and all Americans since passage. It has expanded the size of the federal government, imposed billions of dollars of new taxes on small businesses and individuals, and perpetuated an economy of stalled job creation at a time when far too many Fifth District Virginians are out of work,” said Hurt, who narrowly won election in a tough 2010 race with then-incumbent Tom Perriello and will face his first re-election battle in November 2012.
Hurt joined State Del. John Cox and State Sen. Steve Martin on a conference call arranged by the George Allen Senate campaign that was big on the use of the word “Obamacare.”
“Obamacare has placed a significant burden on America’s already struggling economy, hampering our small businesses freedom to invest and grow their companies,” said Cox, R-Hanover.
“I am convinced that Obamacare represents not only a threat to the health care community, but a threat to our economy as well. With unemployment stuck at above 8 percent for months on end, Obamacare is yet another impediment to job growth in a weak economy,” Martin said.
Hurt backs effort to tighten sanctions on Iran
Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Va.) today released the following statement after the Iran Threat Reduction Act passed the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 410-11. Congressman Hurt is a cosponsor of this measure.
“It is clear that Iran poses a great national security threat to our nation, our allies, and our interests. And as Iran inches dangerously close to nuclear capability, we must take proactive measures to enforce policies that will not only deter, but completely disengage the Iranian regime from its hostile nuclear proliferation program. This legislation does just that by taking aim at its primary source of funding, its energy sector – adding more rigorous financial and energy sanctions, including a provision that would allow sanctions on those that conduct business in Iran’s petroleum industry. As the Iranian nuclear threats continue to evolve, so should the United States’ ability to address those threats. And this legislation will allow us to proactively preserve our security both at home in the Fifth District and across this country.”
H.R. 1905 was introduced by the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and allows the United States to take further steps to impose more comprehensive financial and energy sanctions, as well as close loopholes in current sanction law so that we may deter Iranian nuclear proliferation efforts.
Hurt comments on House passage of farm-dust legislation
Congressman Robert Hurt (R-VA) released the following statement after the House voted Thursday to approve the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act (H.R. 1633), a bipartisan bill that he co-authored with Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD). H.R. 1633 was passed the House by a vote of 268-150 and will now be reported to the Senate:
“I am pleased to see the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act (H.R. 1633) was approved by the full House today with bipartisan support, and it is my hope that our colleagues in the Senate will recognize the importance of providing regulatory relief to our job creators and take action on this legislation to do so.
“Over the past three years, the American entrepreneurial spirit has been crippled by federal government regulations, resulting in millions of Americans out of work, and many businesses closing their doors. At a time when too many Central and Southside Virginians are struggling to find jobs, we must continue to promote policies that will remove the federal government as a barrier to job creation in order to foster an economic environment that both provides an opportunity for job creators to hire and incentivizes them to expand.
“The Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act gets to the root of this problem by removing the federal government from the business of over-regulating. This legislation provides us with a step forward to getting our economy back on track by providing immediate relief to farmers and rural areas through preventing more stringent, job-crushing dust standards from being implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By passing this legislation, the House has taken one more step toward our goal of creating certainty for our job creators, removing the roadblocks posed by excessive regulations, and getting our economy back on track so that our small business owners can get back to creating the jobs that Central and Southside Virginians and all Americans need and deserve.”
Hurt speaks on withholding tax repeal
The House of Representatives voted 405-16 to repeal the 3 percent withholding tax on certain payments made to vendors by government entities. Fifth District Republican Robert Hurt voted with the bipartisan majority in favor of the repeal, which has the support of the Obama administration.
“The House passed another element of our jobs agenda that would repeal a burdensome tax rule to help put capital back in the hands of our job creators at a time when they need it most,’ Hurt said. “In addition to the dozens of House-passed jobs bills, this commonsense legislation would help return certainty to the marketplace, promote economic growth, and spur job creation.
“The House has made every effort to find those areas of common ground where both parties can join together to produce results for Fifth District Virginians and all Americans, and with the broad bipartisan support for this legislation that includes the White House, the Senate should act immediately to pass this bill to help grow the economy and create jobs,” Hurt said.
Robert Hurt: House passes more jobs, regulatory-relief bills
With unemployment remaining unacceptably high across the Fifth District and 14 million Americans without a job, the House has been working since the start of the 112th Congress to pass legislation that would remove the government as a roadblock to job creation and reverse the job-destroying policies of the past two and a half years.
Earlier this year, the House put forth a pro-growth jobs plan – ‘A Plan for America’s Job Creators’ – that would empower our entrepreneurs and small businesses and return certainty to the marketplace by implementing policies that would reduce unnecessary regulations, increase our domestic energy supply, cut government spending, and keep taxes low.
The House has since passed dozens of these commonsense measures as a part of our overall jobs agenda including:
· The Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act (H.R. 872), which would halt duplicative federal regulations on farmers and small business owners that are impeding job creation.
· The Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act (H.R. 1230), The Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act (H.R. 1229), The Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act (H.R. 1231), and The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011 (H.R. 2021), which would significantly increase our domestic energy supply and create thousands of jobs.
· The Energy Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 910), which would stop the federal government from imposing a job-destroying national energy tax.
· A Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 (H.Con.Res. 34), which would cut $6 trillion in government spending and help put our budget on a path to balance.
This fall, the House has continued to implement aspects of our jobs agenda by passing additional regulatory relief bills including:
· The Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act (H.R. 2587), which would prevent the unelected National Labor Relations Board from dictating where employers and private businesses can set up their operations.
· The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act (H.R. 2401), which would require an interagency committee to analyze the cumulative economic impacts of certain EPA environmental regulations in an effort to better understand how these policies affect American manufacturing, global competitiveness, energy prices, and jobs.
And just over the past two weeks, the House has passed three more bipartisan bills – the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, and the Coals Residuals Reuse and Management Act – which would help curb costly, excessive, and burdensome regulations imposed by the EPA and save thousands of jobs.
Despite the fact that the House has worked across the aisle to find areas of common ground to pass these and several other pieces of legislation that would give our true job creators the freedom and opportunity necessary to expand their businesses and put people back to work, nearly all of these House-passed jobs bills sit stalled in the Senate.
Following the Senate’s bipartisan rejection of the President’s proposal for more failed stimulus spending and additional tax increases this past week, now is the time for the Senate to act and join with us in the House in our efforts to put in place those commonsense solutions that will truly help grow our economy and create jobs.
Robert Hurt is a United States Congressman.
Hurt speaks on jobs
After hearing from small business owners and farmers across the 5th District, Congressman Robert Hurt (R-VA) today delivered the following remarks on the House floor regarding the need to reduce unnecessary government regulations to help grow the economy and create jobs.
“Madame Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the people of Virginia’s 5th District – on behalf of the small business owners and farmers across Central and Southside Virginia who have been directly and negatively impacted by the suffocating government regulatory environment.
“These good people have been so overburdened by an overreaching government that they are left struggling to make ends meet in these challenging economic times – unable to expand their businesses and discouraged from starting new ones.
“Over the past two months, I have traveled through the 5th District, making stops from Greene County to Danville, from Martinsville to Brunswick County, I heard from constituents about the very real effects that unnecessary government regulations are having on their businesses and their lives.
“Just this last week, I visited with a convenience store owner in Campbell County who has five stores and 48 employees. He has the desire and the resources to expand and build two more convenience stores, creating more jobs in the area, but he reports that he is unwilling to do so because of the mandates and taxes that will be imposed on his business as a part of the job-destroying government takeover of health care.
“Last week I also visited with the owner of an auto repair shop in Appomattox. He told me that he first started his business back in 1987. Back then, he was able to get his business up and running in one day. One day was all it took for him to obtain all of the required permits and licenses and pay all of the required taxes and fees. After running his shop for a number of years, he then moved on to another job. Then, just recently in 2011, he decided he wanted to reopen his shop and found that instead of taking one day to wade through the regulatory red tape, this year it took him five months.
“If the President and the United States Senate want to know why our economy isn’t growing – this is why.
“These are the real life implications for 5th District Virginians and all Americans created by the regulatory agenda that has been put in place by this Administration and the last Congress over the past two years.
“These added costs jeopardize the success of our small businesses and destroy jobs. The added uncertainty crushes the entrepreneurial spirit and stalls economic growth. And the added expansion of the federal government strips away our freedoms and our opportunities.
“So when a diner owner in Farmville tells me that Washington is, ‘taking the breath away from the American people,’ this is what she is talking about – an ever-growing government that stands as a barrier between a struggling economy and a growing, vibrant economy that we all desperately want.
“So as the House continues to lead the way and works to reduce unnecessary regulations, it is my hope that we will keep in mind the convenience store owners, the auto repair shop owners, and all of the small businesses and farmers who are relying on us to get this right – who are relying on us to support those policies that remove the federal government as a roadblock to job creation and return our economic recovery back where it belongs, in the hands of the people.”
Robert Hurt: American solutions for job creation
Posted by afp on January 9, 2012 · Leave a Comment
The House has shown that there are bipartisan solutions to our jobs crisis, and now we need the Senate to act. Over the past year, we have been fully focused on promoting pro-growth measures that would stimulate the economy and provide an environment for job creators to hire and expand. And in the new year, I remain committed to promoting policies that facilitate job growth so that we can get our economy back on track and create jobs in Central and Southside Virginia. Read more
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with congress, fifth district, job creation, robert hurt