Losing the path to growth

Severe inflation, stock market turmoil and troubling labor force data have created recent economic concerns for American families already struggling to make ends meet. Moreover, our national debt has grown to exceed $35 trillion – $12.74 trillion higher than the total national debt before the pandemic. In the past year alone, the debt has grown by $6.73 billion per day.

A disappointing July jobs report and a rising unemployment rate — the nation’s highest since 2021 — make clear how the Biden-Harris policies of massive spending and rising debt are failing to create private sector growth .

Because a strong labor force is a critical component of economic growth, it is concerning that the US labor force participation rate has not yet recovered from where it was in 2020, when mass layoffs due to the shutdowns caused by COVID and business shutdowns have sent American workers home for weeks, months. , and sometimes years. American business has reopened and recovered largely due to the development of COVID tests, therapies and vaccines in the Trump era, as well as a much better understanding of the disease.

While we can’t afford not to bring American workers from the margins and connect them to opportunities through the many employers still eager to hire, the Biden-Harris administration continues to push economic policies proven to increase inflation and reduce labor force participation , such as a rollback of the 2021 expansion of the child tax credit, which sent monthly checks to millions of Americans regardless of whether they worked.

Despite these challenges, we must not resign the economy to weakness and uncertainty. We know what it takes to strengthen the American economy and get our fiscal house in order. However, the wrong policies of the Biden-Harris Administration are pushing us further in the wrong direction, and hardworking Americans are paying the price for bad policy.

The sensational economic benefit of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 demonstrated how the stability of the tax code can support both job creators and American workers through increased corporate investment and higher wages. With many of the TCJA’s successful policies set to expire in 2025, we must work to secure the long-term gains that have undoubtedly benefited Americans in all income brackets.

The Biden-Harris administration has voiced opposition to renewing the TCJA’s tax cuts, which were directly aimed at rewarding families for working harder and small businesses for investing in America. Instead, the administration has said it would prefer to raise taxes on small businesses to finance a resumption of its welfare policies disguised as tax credits. This is inevitable. The TCJA set a clear path to growth across the economy, and while no tax package is perfect, we need to look at the big picture and renew the policies that have benefited so many Americans. I strongly believe that this goal should enjoy bipartisan support.

As a member of the primary House tax-drafting committee, I work hard to move discussion and debate forward. As Chair of the Ways and Means Rural America Tax Team, I hold roundtables and meetings with my colleagues and stakeholders in the agriculture industry to learn firsthand how tax policy affects our farmers and ranchers. The Ways and Means Committee announced it will hold a field hearing at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on August 16 to hear testimony and highlight the positive impact and importance of the 2017 Trump tax cuts to families, farmers, workers and businesses little americans.

Raising taxes at a time when our economic future is at risk would be absolutely the wrong direction. If we can bend the spending curve, multiply the number of good-paying jobs in our country, and stimulate production and growth, we can restore accountability, strength, and prosperity to our economy.