At the Madison Forum regular luncheon meeting, Monday, October 9, Georgia 11th District Representative, Phil Gingrey reported on the status in Washington of such issues as the economy; immigration; and security, both internal and external. He touched briefly on Representative Foley’s resignation from the House which he said was the proper thing to do.
Mr Gingrey said that when he is asked if the Republicans are in danger of losing one or both of the houses in Washington, he says,” yes we are”. But he also said that a lot can happen in four weeks.
He reported that this administration and the Republication-led Congress have done some things in regard to tax cuts that have really stimulated the economy and gotten us out of what, he thinks, could have been a deep and very long recession. The dot com bubble burst and the 9/11 attack probably cost the economy at least two trillion dollars. That was a pretty severe double whammy. And yet the President and the Congress were bold enough and strong enough to pass meaningful tax cuts, such as the reduction of the Capital Gains Tax and, not the elimination of double taxation on dividends, but lowering it from, what would normally be taxed at your marginal rate, to 15%; and at the lowest income level, it’s down to 5%. In addition, small business men and women are allowed to write off up to $100,000 under Section 179 and rapidly depreciate new investments in bricks and mortar, equipment, and product line. There has been an unprecedented positive result from that. The estimation by CBO was that these tax cuts will cost the economy, in revenue over the next ten years, $1.3 million. But within less than three years we increase the revenue by $275 billion. The revenue increase for the year 2006 is 11%, with a 17% increase in revenue coming in corporate taxes, an unemployment rate of 4.5 - 4.7%, and 3.8 billion new jobs in the last two to three years. This economy is booming despite 9/11, despite hurricane Katrina, despite the fact that we had to spend $375 billion extra, over and above what we spend every year on national defense - which is about $425 -$450 billion a year - just to maintain the kind of military that the President feels that we need to maintain. With spending that kind of money to wage essentially two battlefronts, Iraq and Afghanistan - but all part of the global war on terror - it is absolutely amazing that this economy is as strong as it is.
Mr. Gingrey says he feels Congress has done a great job on the economy, and the House has tried desperately to secure our borders. He says one policy issue on which he disagrees vehemently with President Bush is a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes amnesty. It didn’t work in 1986 and it won’t work now. But, he says, he is not totally opposed to a temporary worker program if it can be shown, once we secure our borders, that we can cut down 400 - 450 thousand illegals coming in every year to maybe just a handful. That is basically the approach taken in the House. Because of the vast differences between the House and Senate bills, the House couldn’t go to conference. So, the House took pieces of their bill and introduced them as stand-alone legislation. .One particular success story is the Senate going along with the House’s Secure Fence Bill which calls for 700 miles of fencing along the southern border, which is a hugely important piece of legislation. He said he feels that the President will sign the bill during the upcoming week.
Mr. Gingrey mentioned that the Democrats have said that they will not renew the tax cuts, most of which will sunset by the year 2010. They have talked about instituting impeachment proceedings against President Bush, and several have expressed a desire to reinstitute the draft.
Mr. Gingrey says that he sincerely believes that if we continue with the Republican majority, and give the President that leadership and that strength in the Congress in these next two years, the economy will continue to get better.