Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) today issued the following statement reacting to the President’s jobs plan as outlined in his remarks to House Republicans:

“The waste and focus on government spending in the Democrats’ $1 trillion stimulus did nothing to prevent a record 12 million Americans from receiving unemployment checks instead of paychecks as the U.S. unemployment rate soared to 10 percent and to nearly 15 percent in Michigan, my home state. 

“Given the reality millions of Americans have long been facing, I welcome the President’s decision to now focus on the economy.  However, a sprinkling here and there of a few poll-tested proposals won’t provide enough help or get small businesses hiring again – especially if the President also continues his job-killing push for a $1 trillion government takeover of health care and a new national energy tax called cap-and-trade. 

“If this is a real starting point for a new debate, then hopefully the President will start considering Republican ideas to get America working.  But if the President again decides on a take-it-or-leave-it approach, calls for higher taxes elsewhere on employers or lards it up with pork-barrel spending, the jobs Americans desperately need won’t be created. “

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