OP-ED: Working Together on Jobs

Exactly one week after President Obama delivered this third State of the Union address, the Congressional Budget Office predicted the “official” national unemployment rate will rise to 8.9 percent by the end of 2012, and to 9.2 percent in 2013. And you can be sure that if the official jobless rate is moving up again, so is the number of underemployed workers and frustrated job-seekers. Combined, some experts say, the “unofficial” unemployment figure tops 15 percent.

Clearly, proposals to spur job creation presented by the President over the last three years have not worked. And yet, he told the nation in his annual address, “With or without this Congress, I will keep taking actions that help the economy grow."

Therein lies a major problem: when the President isn't taking this kind of “go it alone“ approach, he insists that Congress pass his proposals “as is” like he did last fall with his so-called “American Job Act.“

That‘s disappointing because history has shown that the Congress and the President can, and should, work together. Several proposals supported by President Obama have passed the Republican House and been signed into law, including three bipartisan trade agreements, a bipartisan veterans hiring bill and a repeal of the IRS withholding tax on job creators.

We have to find a way to build on these successes.

The “real economy" is what I hear about when I visit small businesses and meet with constituents. People are hurting. Over 14 million are unemployed, many for a year or more. Adding to this misery is the belief of many Americans that 1) they will not see a pay raise this year, 2) the value of their home will not increase in coming months, and 3) this is not a wise time to make new investments. These factors perpetuate a deep sense of  'financial pessimism, uncertainty and limit consumer demand.

While Congress and the President cannot provide an immediate cure, we should work together to push America forward.

I am an optimist by nature and I still believe that better days are coming! I support an action plan to create private sector jobs and careers, encourage growth, protect families and restore badly-needed economic confidence:

1. Fix the tax code to help job creators. We can increase American competitiveness to spur investment by streamlining the tax code and lowering the tax rate for individuals and businesses, including small business owners, to no more than 25%. We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. It needs to be lowered. In addition, we should allow businesses to bring back their overseas profits without having to pay a tax penalty so those proceeds can be invested at home.

2. Reduce government burdens on job creators. Businesses in Morris, Sussex, Passaic and Essex counties want government to get “off their back" and “out of the way.” We should require Congressional review of any government regulations that have a significant impact on the economy or burden small businesses, repeal the damaging Obamacare takeover of health care, exempt smaller companies from the onerous provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley accounting law and revisit the burdensome Dodd-Frank banking “reform” law which let the government pick “winners and losers" instead of the marketplace.

3. Allow American manufacturers to compete and win in global markets. Now that we have approved three major free trade agreements to create up to 250,000 jobs including thousands in New Jersey, we should continue to work to open additional new markets to American-made products. We also need to ensure that China lives up to its responsibilities under the World Trade Organization.

4. Reform government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Our housing markets will not emerge from its current crisis until these financial relics adjust to a more competitive environment.

5. Encourage entrepreneurship and growth by investing in real infrastructure (roads, bridges, rail, power grids} without mandating union labor hires.

6. Maximize domestic energy production by diversifying supplies and encouraging increased conservation.

7. Pay down America's unsustainable debt and live within our means. We must stop spending money we do not have by enacting significant federal budget cuts and spending controls. In the meantime, Congress should pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. And, of course, we should address entitlement reform.

This plan is not all-inclusive and recognizes that neither Republicans nor Democrats have every answer. But clearly, we don‘t need more government. We need common sense solutions.

In a letter to President Obama last fall, Speaker of the House John Boehner wrote, “The American people expect us to bring together the best of both parties’ ideas, and it is our desire to work together to find common ground between your ideas and ours.“

I could not agree more. Let’s get to work!