My IL Sixth District Congressman Peter Roskam touts a twofold recipe for job creation: cut corporate tax rates and eviscerate needed governmental regulations. Sadly, Congressman Roskam arrived in Congress in January, 2007, just when the Bush Administration's trillions of dollars in unneeded, undeserved tax cuts and elimination of sensible financial regulations tipped the US economy into the worst crash since the Great Depression of 1929. The Congressman didn't say boo about his party's catastrophic policies, but was smart enough to trot out his "Obama voters for Roskam" campaign in his successful 2008 re-election bid.
Here we are two elections later and Congressman Roskam continues to govern and run on the basis that none of America's economic malaise was the fault of the policies he has championed throughout his political career. He also has deleted from his public life any mention of the tremendous private sector job growth under the President that has added over three million new jobs in the past 25 months. This posed a difficult narrative for Roskam's GOP. To offset this truly significant job creation, Roskam has taken a party leadership role in working to cut every possible public sector job, and derailing all efforts to create new jobs with additional governmental stimulus.
Roskam opposed the President's 2009 stimulus bill which created or saved several million jobs. He parroted the false GOP talking point that the stimulus bill didn't create a single job. That is one Whopper that isn't digestible no matter which way you order it. Roskam claims that the real problem is not lack of jobs but the deficit. His policies helped reduce governmental spending on job creation at precisely the time they were critically needed to maintain the stimulus' momentum. These policies prevented Uncle Sam from helping states deal with their individual money crises, resulting in over 600,000 public sector layoffs, including 200,000 teachers. Roskam says we do this to save our children and grandchildren. But reducing educational resources will do precisely the opposite by lessening their chances of preparedness for the changing economy of the 21st century.
Another slap at economic recovery Roskam has championed was last years GOP manufactured debt ceiling crisis. By bringing America to the brink of financial default, Roskam's GOP needlessly tied an anchor around consumer confidence and extracted more senseless budget cuts on an already shrunken government. Just last week the GOP House leadership threatened to bring on another debt ceiling crisis this year.
It takes political courage to admit the the facts and the truth about what brought America to the brink of another Depression, and recognize that practicing austerity destroys rather than creates jobs. But Congressman Roskam has his eye on the next rung in the House GOP leadership. And if that means going along with the House GOP game plan of sabotaging the economy to regain the White House, then let the games begin.
