While Democrats promised their 2009 stimulus would create 3.7 million jobs, the reality is far different.  To date, 2.6 million jobs - including 2.5 million private sector jobs - have been lost.  The latest data from the Department of Labor shows a total of 48 out of 50 States have lost jobs.  No wonder a Capitol Hill newspaper reported this week that such continued grim labor market… Read more

Starting January 1, 2011, Washington Democrats will impose a $3.8 trillion tax hike on hard-working Americans, resulting in higher taxes for every American who pays income taxes, as well as on small businesses, the engines of job creation.  Unfortunately, Democrats have done nothing to disarm this ticking tax bomb, and even America’s senior citizens will be hit by this massive tax… Read more

President Obama heads to Ohio tomorrow to continue to sell his economic “stimulus” plan.  One slight problem though – Americans simply don’t believe his stimulus plan is working.  As Abraham Lincoln famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”  And a quick look at the facts… Read more

Washington, DC - Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) issued the following statement marking tomorrow's 75th anniversary of Social Security: “Since being signed into law 75 years ago, Social Security has provided important income protection for workers and their families as a result of retirement, disability or death.  Workers paying payroll taxes on their hard-earned wages… Read more

Today’s data about first-time claims for unemployment benefits, a key metric of the current health of the labor market, revealed the highest level of initial claims in six months.  Last week, the July jobs report showed the official unemployment rate remaining stuck at 9.5% --the 15th consecutive month above 9%.  But even those grim statistics mask the true depth of despair in the U.S.… Read more

Washington, DC – Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI) today issued the following statement in reaction to the news that former Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) passed away. “Dan Rostenkowski was larger than life, a strong chairman and a legislator who was able to work across party lines to produce significant results for the American people – most notably… Read more

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA), Ranking Member of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, today filed a discharge petition on H.R. 5424, the Reform Americans Can Afford Act, which would repeal the Democrats’ health care law and replace it with commonsense solutions to bring down health care costs. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Republican Whip Eric… Read more

Democrats suggest the State and local government bailout bill to be considered in the House on August 10 will temporarily “save” certain government jobs.  But what they won’t tell you is that the $9.6 billion in permanent tax hikes they would impose to “pay for” that extension of stimulus would destroy over 141,000 private sector jobs.  That would be on top of the 2.5 million private… Read more

Last Friday, we learned that the unemployment rate is still at 9.5%.  It would be much higher if the official calculations also looked at the fast-growing number of Americans who have become so discouraged that they have given up looking for work. So while Congress should be here trying to find ways to get Americans back to work, we are here instead to complete action on another… Read more

Every year, Medicare trustees deliver an impenetrable report that answers a single headline-worthy question: How soon will Medicare run out of money? Last year, the trustees estimated that one part of Medicare would be insolvent alarmingly soon — 2017. But then came the new health care law, sold to Americans as a way to reduce costs and shore up Medicare. The trustees released a new… Read more