As I have said from the very beginning, I support extending the payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans. I voted to extend the cut for one year, extend and reform unemployment benefits, and sustain the Medicare growth rate for patients and doctors for two years. Unfortunately, the Senate refused to return from their vacation, and Harry Reid and President Obama lead a pathetic process that has forced a less-than-ideal extension in order to ensure taxes are not raised on the American people. Once again, cheap political points won out over sound public policy

Let’s be clear, the original bill passed by the House was in the best interest of the American people. However, there is only so much we can do when dealing with an obstructionist Senate and a president mostly concerned about his re-election. I am very much opposed to tax policy and health care policy being decided two months at a time in this country, but I am more opposed to tax increases on the American people. I hope the conference process will produce a long-term solution that will benefit all Americans.

I believe this process has highlighted a clear difference in the way the Republican-led House is interested in governing and the way this Senate and president are interested in governing. We favor long-term solutions over short-sighted political maneuvering. The House has passed a budget that puts us on a long-term path to fiscal solvency, while the Senate has not passed a budget in well over 900 days — continuing to force last-minute budgeting to avoid government shutdowns. Instead of a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut and a two-year “doc fix” for Medicare, they forced a two-month extension and fix. This is wrong and the American people should hold them accountable next November.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Seventy years ago, our country was attacked on a sleepy Sunday morning in Hawaii.  In a matter of hours we were at war with Japan and the Second World War had reached our shores.  Many brave Americans lost their lives that day fighting back against the sneak attack, and many still remain entombed at the bottom of the harbor to this day.  The attack on Pearl Harbor sparked the rise of what become known as our country’s “Greatest Generation”; a generation of men and women who served our country both overseas and at home in a worldwide fight for freedom.    My dad is one of those who served in World War II, and I have seen in him the strength, patriotism and honor that made America so great during those trying times. This month, we remember those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor and those who fired the first shots of America’s fight for freedom against fascism.  Dec. 7, 1941 is truly a day that “live(s) in infamy,” and one that reminds us of what Americans are capable of when their country needs them.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, (R-Chattanooga), represents Tennessee’s 3rd District.  He welcomes your comments on this topic, and can be reached at (423) 756-2342.

The latest example was all over Maryville’s sports pages on Sunday, December 4th. One headline read: “Historic Championship: Maryville Wins the 13th State Title — Most Ever.”

Our football team has learned to work well together.

Their record this year was 15 and 0. It was their ninth state title and ninth perfect season under an extraordinary coach, George Quarles, who has won 179 games and lost only 13 in his career — the most state titles of any school in Tennessee’s history. Maryville has averaged 30 or more points in 12 of its 13 seasons under coach Quarles and the quarterback, Patton Robinette, who has scholarship offers from good schools everywhere, was named the Gatorade Tennessee Football Player of the Year, part of which has to do with his academic credentials: a straight A-plus average.

This leads me to the second thing — they work well together on in Maryville, whose district was named the best overall school district in the state by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education. The Maryville city schools recently received all As on their state math, reading, social studies, science, and writing assessments.

According to the Tennessean, Maryville city schools have the second highest test scores in the state in reading and math. The high school was selected as one of three finalists in the prized category of high schools “based primarily on student achievement gains and progress over time.”

The football team and the students clearly have learned to work well together, academically and athletically, at Maryville High School.

How did this all happen? Well, I know a little bit about this. I am a proud graduate of Maryville High School. It is not the richest town in the state by a long shot. Most families in Maryville would describe themselves as middle income.

One reason they succeed and why they achieve so much excellence in so many ways in their schools is that the town devotes about 70 percent of its budget to its schools. It is in a county where about half the citizens have a library card. It is a place where if you get in trouble at school, you get in trouble at home. There is none of this business about parents blaming the teacher and the principal for what the child does.

But the school principal, Greg Roach, who is new to the town, said it best. I watched the game on statewide television and saw when he was asked during a halftime interview, “How did this happen? How did you have this champion football team more than any other school in the state and then you are named the best school district in the state? How can you do that all at once?”

He said, “Well, it is a town school and when something happens, everybody shows up.”

They showed up for the football game, but they also show up at the annual academic awards banquets. I have been to those, and over the last several years it’s become more like a sporting contest, with students getting the same honors, awards, scholarships and pats on the back that football players get.

I used to talk about the Maryville schools and the community of Maryville when I ran for president, and my friend, former education secretary and talk-radio host Bill Bennett, who was chairman of my campaign, would say, “Lamar, not every community in America is Maryville.” And I know that — but I think a lot more could be. There are a lot of theories about what makes a good school, but Principal Roach may have it right: It is a town school, and when something happens, everybody shows up.

Work well to get results

When everybody in a community shows up, when people work well together, good things happen. Working well together is not the end goal, just as working well together was not the goal of the football team: they wanted the championship. Working well together was not the goal of the students: they wanted scholarships. But they knew they had to work well together to get a result.

Perhaps that is a lesson for Washington, DC, as we seek to take the responsibilities we have and earn the respect of the men and women of this country who hired us and sent us here to solve problems.

We should celebrate the success of the championship football team of Maryville High School and the “championship” school district of Maryville and suggest that their lesson on working well together (in Washington, it’s “bipartisanship”) might be a good lesson for us.

Tennesseans admire much about our Kentucky neighbors.  We admire their bluegrass, we admire their basketball, we admire their distinguished Senators.  But Tennesseans don’t want Kentucky’s State income tax, and we don’t want Kentucky’s dirty air.  We also know our neighbors in North Carolina don’t want Tennessee’s dirty air blowing into North Carolina because they have told us that through lawsuits in the courts, which they have won.

I joined Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas in introducing bipartisan legislation that will provide what we believe is a better approach, and that approach is to enact the clean air rule into law but give utilities one additional year in which to comply with it.  There are four reasons that I oppose overturning this cross-state air pollution rule.

Reason No. 1 is auto jobs.  The first thing Nissan did when it came to Tennessee 30 years ago was to go down to the Air Quality Board and get an air quality permit so it could operate its paint plant.  Fortunately, our air was clean enough to allow that to happen.  Nissan came, and so did tens of thousands of jobs.

Volkswagen has come to Tennessee.  We want to make sure its suppliers can get an air quality permit so they do not have to go to other States.  So the first reason we need to stop air from blowing into Tennessee from other States is auto jobs.

The second reason is tourism jobs. When I visit the Sevier County Chamber of Commerce, right next to the Great Smoky Mountains I walk in to see them, and they say their No. 1 goal is clean air.  That is because 9 million tourists a year come to see the Great Smoky Mountains, not the Great Smoggy Mountains.

In the county where I come from, we have not elected a Democrat to Congress since Abraham Lincoln was president, but we like to breathe clean air.  Our tourists do as well.

Three, the American Lung Association tells us that dirty air blowing into Tennessee makes us unhealthier, especially children and our older citizens.

The fourth reason is that overturning the rule was no solution.  What will it do?  It will throw it back to bureaucrats and lawyers and bureaucracy and uncertainty and delay.  That is not a solution.

I have had bipartisan clean air legislation in this Congress every year since I have been here, because I think it is our job, not the bureaucrats’ job.  I was elected to work on jobs and health, not pass the buck to the bureaucrats and lawyers.

I want to see the Great Smoky Mountains, not the Great Smoggy Mountains.  I want tourists to come to Tennessee, admire the mountains, and leave their money.  I want the Volkswagen suppliers to be able to locate their plants in Tennessee.  I want all Tennesseans to be able to grow up healthy and not have to worry about dirty air blowing in from other parts of the country.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-Tenn.), can be reached in his Washington, D.C. office at (202)224-4944.

The following is the remarks U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann gave to the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 19, 2011, Part 2.

Three: repeal ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank Act.  These two policies are creating the most uncertainty for our economy as business owners are struggling to understand the new health care laws, and the impact it will have on their businesses.  As you know, some people are already being affected by these new regulations, but starting in 2014 every individual will be hit, which will undoubtedly create more confusion and regulatory chaos that could take years to untangle.  On top of all this are the new financial regulations put into place by the Dodd-Frank Act that have not solved the problems that started the current recession.

American small businesses currently face an estimated $1.75 trillion in regulatory costs, which increases prices for consumers and slows business growth.  Regulations are not only affecting a few companies like small oil drillers, but they are trickling into every area of our economy including industries such as transportation.  One of the most expensive regulations put forth by the Obama administration deals with health hazards from smog and is estimated to cost between $19 billion and $90 billion.

The Obama administration, in its first two years, put forth seventy-five new major rules.  According to the Heritage Foundation, this cost American companies an estimated $40 billion. In addition to these rules, the administration has escalated their previous number and is planning to lay over 4,000 new regulations on the backs of American businesses.

Since President Obama took office in January 2009, employment of government regulators has gone up 13 percent, while private sector employment has gone down 5.6 percent.

Of the thousands of regulations put forth by the Obama administration, many are considered to be extremely costly and put considerable strain on the economy.  In fact, thirty-seven of the administration’s rulemaking proceedings between October 2010 and March 2011 were listed as having a “significant” impact on the economy that could exceed $100 million per year.

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses, in comparison to larger ones, are facing grave danger, as they will be required to spend 36 percent more per employee in order to comply with onerous federal regulations.

Since the beginning of the Obama administration, federal regulations have already cost the American people $38 billion per year.

In two counties within the 3rd District alone, I know of farmers, a small business and a big business that might have to close their doors or reduce their operating size due to new regulations.  Some have already spent tens of thousands of dollars to comply with these new government regulations.

We need a responsible approach to regulatory policy that will keep Americans safe and allow small businesses to flourish, instead of suffer financially. Action needs to be taken to reduce rulemaking and costs associated with it, and we have been doing that in the House this year. Unfortunately, Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats continue to sit on their hands.

While it is responsible to make sure our air, water, and overall health is of good quality, we must not weigh down businesses with burdensome and political regulatory costs.

If we responsibly reduce regulatory burdens for businesses, jobs will increase, costs will be lower and our economy will begin to revive itself.  In our current fiscal crisis, we must take steps to decrease our national debt and put Americans back to work.  A logical first step is to reduce regulatory burdens and produce an environment where we give businesses the opportunity to do what they do best: create jobs.

There have been many news reports concerning the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to shutdown a Boeing production plant in the right-to-work state of South Carolina.  This is a problem that is indicative of many unions and their pursuit of power as they stand between employers and the American workforce. This encroachment on the rights of employers and employees cannot be tolerated.

Since the issue with the NLRB has arisen in South Carolina, I voted for the “Protecting Jobs from Government Act,” as did a majority of the House of Representatives. It was imperative that we fix the flaw in the current law that allowed the National Labor Relations Board to dictate any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer employment under any circumstances. This overreach is being used to destroy thousands of jobs at a time when our economy desperately needs every job.

Southeast Tennessee is doing better than many during these times of economic recession because we are a right-to-work state which helps us deal with the heavy-handed tactics of labor unions. However, not all states are as fortunate, and, as the Boeing example shows, right-to-work states are not completely exempt from unions trying to get in the way. So we closed a flaw that allowed the NLRB to overstep its bounds.

The “Protecting Jobs from Government Act” helped make sure the private marketplace is free to do business in a way that will best help local, state and national economies.

Unions may have served a role in a time and place when a balance needed to be struck between American business and the basic rights of American citizens, but that period in American labor history has long passed. As with most other government-supported programs, unions have gone from serving a particular focus to growing and expanding for the sake of retaining power and influence.

Too many politicians make their living from the support of folks like the NLRB or the Service Employees International Union and will therefore do whatever they can for their union friends, in the hopes of holding on to the power they have. This is not how government should operate.

Our governor, and our state legislature, did fantastic work this year to scale back the collective bargaining power afforded to the teachers union. This effort will not only create better results in the classroom, I believe, but it will also help our state financially in a time of economic turmoil.  We have seen other states across the country, such as Wisconsin, take this same approach as collective bargaining agreements have taken a toll on state budgets and grown to unsustainable levels. A 2010 Cato Institute study found, “Unionized public sector workers have much higher average wages and benefits than nonunionized public sector workers.  [The] Bureau of Labor Statistics … [shows] that union members have a 31 percent advantage in wages and a 68 percent advantage in benefits.”

At the federal level, I can assure you, as long as I have a say and vote in the process, I will do all I can to ensure unions are not allowed to dictate the terms of private business in this country or receive an untoward amount of taxpayer dollars.

In 2011, nearly 28 cents of every dollar made by Americans will go to local, state, and federal governments for taxes.  To put this into perspective, that is more than we will spend on food, clothing, and shelter — combined.  Add to this an additional 11 cents to pay off the ever-increasing deficit, and Americans must commit almost 40 percent of their hard-earned money to their governments.  In a struggling economy, this burden on Americans is simply too much and must change if we want to see long-term growth.  There are a few simple steps that will help fix our broken tax system.

One: close tax loopholes.  There are numerous loopholes for almost every interest group, each one added to the tax code over the years.  A truly fair system would end each and every special tax advantage.  Congress tends to raise the overall tax rates if money runs short, but if these special loopholes were closed there would be no need to raise any other taxes.

Two: lower top marginal tax rates.  Again, if loopholes are closed there is no reason to raise the top marginal tax rate to compensate for the loss of revenue. The reverse is even true.  Closing the loopholes would allow overall tax rates to be lowered, allowing individuals and families to keep more of their own money.  With individuals having more money to save and spend, more capital can flow into the economy.

Three: simplify the tax code.  Each year, over 6 billion hours of work and $160 billion are spent to understand and comply with the tax code.  Taxes are a burden in themselves, and the process of compliance should not be an additional burden.  Simplification is essential.  Creating fewer brackets with lower individual rates would allow people to keep more of the money they earn.

Many of the issues I have laid out today my wife and I dealt with on some level or another while starting and growing our business.  Whether it was regulations, the complexity of the tax code or the instability in the marketplace, we dealt with these issues every day we came into the office.  And while we did not get to go on very many vacations while we grew our business and learned how to overcome these obstacles, we did find time to make our way to Philadelphia many years ago.

I stood in the room where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Our founding fathers are no longer with us, but they left us a legacy — a legacy of freedom.  And that is why I ran for Congress.

From a young boy overcoming the loss of his mother, to living on my own at 16, to mopping the floor of a McDonalds, to working in a library, to starting a business with my wife and finally becoming a member of the United States House of Representatives, I have lived the American dream.  I ran for office so I could go to Washington and try to bring that American dream that I’ve been privileged to share, and be a part of, to you, to your family and to your grandchildren.

It’s a dream of freedom and success based on hard work and independence.  Together we can get America working again, but only if we let Americans do the work freely.

God bless you.  God bless America.  And God bless the great state of Tennessee.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, (R-Chattanooga), represents Tennessee’s 3^rd District.  He welcomes your comments on this topic, and can be reached at (423) 756-2342.

These three trade agreements — with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama — are good news for Tennessee’s economy. They will help bring millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to our state, now that Tennesseans can sell more of our auto parts to South Korea, more of our electronics to Panama, and more of our soybeans to Colombia.

Congress would have passed these trade agreements to help create good private-sector jobs all across the country a long time ago, but unfortunately the agreements sat on the president’s desk since the day he took office nearly three years ago.

In fact, these trade agreements were negotiated between four and five years ago. Congress has been waiting for President Obama to send them to us so we can pass them and move forward with other proposals to help make it easier and cheaper to create private-sector jobs.

In Tennessee, we see the advantages of trading with the world — 116,000 jobs in Tennessee are related to selling our manufactured goods to people in other countries.

In 2010 alone, Tennessee exported nearly $900 million in goods to South Korea, Panama and Colombia, despite the trade barriers these three agreements will get rid of.

Similar trade agreements passed in 2004 helped increase what Tennessee sells to Chile by 416 percent and to Singapore by 195 percent, according to the International Trade Administration.

Millions of Americans are hurting in this economy and need work now, and, with the first step of passing these trade agreements done, Congress can turn to making it easier to find good private-sector jobs. Now Congress can take steps to reform our tax code and get rid of bad regulations to free up American businesses to hire, and get working on entitlement reform to lower our job-killing debt.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-Tenn.), can be reached in his Washington, D.C. office at (202)224-4944.

The following is the remarks U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann gave to the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 19, 2011.

Thank you all for having me here today.

First, let me thank Moore Hallmark from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for putting this event in the works.

I would also like to thank Rob Bradham, your vice president of public strategies, for doing most of the legwork for this event, and for all of his efforts here at the Chamber. No doubt, Rob has a very bright future in the business world, and we hope that future happens right here in Southeast Tennessee.

And, finally I would especially like to thank your president and CEO, Tom Edd Wilson. I have known Tom Edd for many years now, having been a member of the Chamber when my wife and I ran our law firm, and he has done a great job in highlighting Chattanooga not only to the country but also to the world.

Much of the growth we’ve experienced in the Chattanooga area can be credited directly to the work of Tom Edd and the team he has assembled here at the Chamber. Thank you, Tom Edd.

I was excited when I found out I would be afforded the opportunity to be here today to talk to business leaders about our economy and how we can get this country working again. After three years and over 2 million job losses, as well as failed stimulus packages, bailouts and regulations, it is apparent the Obama administration’s policies have failed the test of this immediate hour.

There seems to be a disconnect between the ideas and policies of this administration, and the real world of bottom lines and balance sheets. I grew up during a time in America where there were no handouts, no bailouts, no ObamaCare. It was your faith, family and hard work that defined you and helped push you along the path to success.

My mom and dad, like most of our parents during that time, were two of the hardest working people you would ever meet. In 1962 they had me, their only child.

My dad is still with me today and my greatest advocate. He’s 86 years young, and a proud veteran of World War II in the China-Burma-India Theater.

My mom was a hard worker and made a great impact on my life. When I was nine years old she was diagnosed with breast cancer and after a five-year battle, we lost her. During my mom’s battle, in order to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, my dad held many jobs in the northeast. In fact, I attended three elementary schools, three middle schools and two high schools due to my dad’s constant pursuit of doing all he could to care for his wife and son.

When I was a junior in high school, after my mother had passed away, my father had to take a job in Chicago. During that year, it was necessary for me to stay in New York and live on my own. It was what was best for the family so I took on the challenge. I joined my Dad in Chicago for my senior year of high school. That year I worked at a McDonald’s mopping floors for $2.10 an hour. My parents had instilled in me the value of hard, honest work, so I viewed my job at McDonald’s as a starting point. This country is about the freedom of an individual starting somewhere — anywhere — and achieving success through hard work and determination.

After graduating from high school, I ended up becoming the first person in my family to go to college. I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I worked in the newspaper library and archives to help pay my way through college. I graduated Magna Cum Laude in three years — because I simply couldn’t afford the fourth year. Growing up I had seen my dad work tirelessly to make sure his family was taken care of, and I had seen my mom fight valiantly against a debilitating disease. I had learned by example and knew the value of the opportunities being afforded to me, and I was determined not to let them slip away.

I put my head down, worked hard, and after finishing my undergraduate work, by the grace of God, found my way to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville law school.

I may not have been in the top tier of law students, but I knew what I wanted out of life and I knew that it would take hard work to get there. During my time at UTK I met my wife, Brenda. After we both graduated from law school, we moved to Chattanooga — her hometown — and opened our own law firm. We made $50 the first month. We had no employees, but we had a lot of hopes and dreams. Through the years we worked hard, many times six or seven days a week with very few vacations.

Twenty-four years later, and over 20 employees later, I had run a successful business, raised a family and was elected to the United States Congress.

I know what it’s like to have to meet a payroll, to pay taxes, to balance a budget, and very little of it has to do with government — other than the hindrances they put in the way. That is why I have introduced my own jobs plan for America, entitled ‘Less Government, More Jobs,’ that I believe will truly get Americans and Tennesseans back to work.

Unlike proposals coming out of the White House, my plan is not centered on spending money we do not have and taxing small business owners. It is centered on less government and more freedom for private enterprises. It is centered on the ideals that are the foundation of America.

The federal government should not stand in the way of American ingenuity and productivity. It should only do what is constitutionally permitted, and then stand aside while individuals work to achieve the American dream.

I understand there are many ways to get the government out of the way so the American entrepreneur can grow his or her business, and therefore my jobs plan is centered on ideas I consider important to getting Americans back to work. These ideas come from personal experience and from the experiences of other business leaders who have reached out to share their thoughts and concerns.

Although my entire plan consists of seven points, and is 33 pages long, I want to talk to you today about four pressing issues — stability in the marketplace, less government regulation, the growing threat of unions and a simpler tax code — that if dealt with, I believe will help businesses grow, expand their workforce and produce more capital.

Our economy is on the brink of severe financial setbacks due to political failures in Washington and unsound economic decisions from big financial institutions. To bring us back from the edge in these uncertain times, the most important factor in creating growth in our economy is establishing stability in the marketplace. There are a few specific actions that can be taken to encourage economic stability.

One: a serious plan to reduce the deficit. When the U.S. government is heavily in debt, the economy suffers, either from more taxation, which drags down growth, or through a sluggish recovery period. The federal government should establish a credible program to gradually reduce the deficit. This will prove to the world that we are serious about effectively managing our national debt and will help restore confidence in the market.

The recent downgrade in U.S. Treasuries should be a wakeup call to all policy makers. I was a strong advocate for, and voted for, the ‘Path to Prosperity Budget’ introduced by chairman of the Budget Committee, Congressman Paul Ryan, earlier this year. This budget would put us on a path to long-term fiscal responsibility and budgetary solvency. It would tackle many of the tough financial issues facing our country today, and put us on firm footing moving forward.

Two: a fair but competitive tax structure. While an overhaul of our tax system alone will not revamp our economy, it will certainly influence it. Closing the numerous loopholes in our tax structure is an important first step. Closing all loopholes and lowering the overall tax rates will allow businesses the ability to make long term plans and free individuals from time spent on tax compliance.

April 15th should not require people to spend countless hours just to pay their taxes. To compete in the global economy, we must make our tax structure fair, competitive and simple.

Three: repeal ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank Act. These two policies are creating the most uncertainty for our economy as business owners are struggling to understand the new health care laws, and the impact it will have on their businesses. As you know, some people are already being affected by these new regulations, but starting in 2014 every individual will be hit, which will undoubtedly create more confusion and regulatory chaos that could take years to untangle. On top of all this are the new financial regulations put into place by the Dodd-Frank Act that have not solved the problems that started the current recession.

American small businesses currently face an estimated $1.75 trillion in regulatory costs, which increases prices for consumers and slows business growth. Regulations are not only affecting a few companies like small oil drillers, but they are trickling into every area of our economy including industries such as transportation. One of the most expensive regulations put forth by the Obama administration deals with health hazards from smog and is estimated to cost between $19 billion and $90 billion.

The Obama administration, in its first two years, put forth seventy-five new major rules. According to the Heritage Foundation, this cost American companies an estimated $40 billion. In addition to these rules, the administration has escalated their previous number and is planning to lay over 4,000 new regulations on the backs of American businesses.

Since President Obama took office in January 2009, employment of government regulators has gone up 13 percent, while private sector employment has gone down 5.6 percent.

Of the thousands of regulations put forth by the Obama administration, many are considered to be extremely costly and put considerable strain on the economy. In fact, thirty-seven of the administration’s rulemaking proceedings between October 2010 and March 2011 were listed as having a “significant” impact on the economy that could exceed $100 million per year.

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses, in comparison to larger ones, are facing grave danger, as they will be required to spend 36 percent more per employee in order to comply with onerous federal regulations.

Since the beginning of the Obama administration, federal regulations have already cost the American people $38 billion per year.

In two counties within the 3rd District alone, I know of farmers, a small business and a big business that might have to close their doors or reduce their operating size due to new regulations. Some have already spent tens of thousands of dollars to comply with these new government regulations.

We need a responsible approach to regulatory policy that will keep Americans safe and allow small businesses to flourish, instead of suffer financially. Action needs to be taken to reduce rulemaking and costs associated with it, and we have been doing that in the House this year. Unfortunately, Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats continue to sit on their hands.

While it is responsible to make sure our air, water, and overall health is of good quality, we must not weigh down businesses with burdensome and political regulatory costs.

If we responsibly reduce regulatory burdens for businesses, jobs will increase, costs will be lower and our economy will begin to revive itself. In our current fiscal crisis, we must take steps to decrease our national debt and put Americans back to work. A logical first step is to reduce regulatory burdens and produce an environment where we give businesses the opportunity to do what they do best: create jobs.

There have been many news reports concerning the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to shutdown a Boeing production plant in the right-to-work state of South Carolina. This is a problem that is indicative of many unions and their pursuit of power as they stand between employers and the American workforce. This encroachment on the rights of employers and employees cannot be tolerated.

Since the issue with the NLRB has arisen in South Carolina, I voted for the “Protecting Jobs from Government Act,” as did a majority of the House of Representatives. It was imperative that we fix the flaw in the current law that allowed the National Labor Relations Board to dictate any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer employment under any circumstances. This overreach is being used to destroy thousands of jobs at a time when our economy desperately needs every job.

Southeast Tennessee is doing better than many during these times of economic recession because we are a right-to-work state which helps us deal with the heavy-handed tactics of labor unions. However, not all states are as fortunate, and, as the Boeing example shows, right-to-work states are not completely exempt from unions trying to get in the way. So we closed a flaw that allowed the NLRB to overstep its bounds.

The “Protecting Jobs from Government Act” helped make sure the private marketplace is free to do business in a way that will best help local, state and national economies.

Unions may have served a role in a time and place when a balance needed to be struck between American business and the basic rights of American citizens, but that period in American labor history has long passed. As with most other government-supported programs, unions have gone from serving a particular focus to growing and expanding for the sake of retaining power and influence.

Too many politicians make their living from the support of folks like the NLRB or the Service Employees International Union and will therefore do whatever they can for their union friends, in the hopes of holding on to the power they have. This is not how government should operate.

Our governor, and our state legislature, did fantastic work this year to scale back the collective bargaining power afforded to the teachers union. This effort will not only create better results in the classroom, I believe, but it will also help our state financially in a time of economic turmoil. We have seen other states across the country, such as Wisconsin, take this same approach as collective bargaining agreements have taken a toll on state budgets and grown to unsustainable levels. A 2010 Cato Institute study found, “Unionized public sector workers have much higher average wages and benefits than nonunionized public sector workers. [The] Bureau of Labor Statistics … [shows] that union members have a 31 percent advantage in wages and a 68 percent advantage in benefits.”

At the federal level, I can assure you, as long as I have a say and vote in the process, I will do all I can to ensure unions are not allowed to dictate the terms of private business in this country or receive an untoward amount of taxpayer dollars.

In 2011, nearly 28 cents of every dollar made by Americans will go to local, state, and federal governments for taxes. To put this into perspective, that is more than we will spend on food, clothing, and shelter — combined. Add to this an additional 11 cents to pay off the ever-increasing deficit, and Americans must commit almost 40 percent of their hard-earned money to their governments. In a struggling economy, this burden on Americans is simply too much and must change if we want to see long-term growth. There are a few simple steps that will help fix our broken tax system.

One: close tax loopholes. There are numerous loopholes for almost every interest group, each one added to the tax code over the years. A truly fair system would end each and every special tax advantage. Congress tends to raise the overall tax rates if money runs short, but if these special loopholes were closed there would be no need to raise any other taxes.

Two: lower top marginal tax rates. Again, if loopholes are closed there is no reason to raise the top marginal tax rate to compensate for the loss of revenue. The reverse is even true. Closing the loopholes would allow overall tax rates to be lowered, allowing individuals and families to keep more of their own money. With individuals having more money to save and spend, more capital can flow into the economy.

Three: simplify the tax code. Each year, over 6 billion hours of work and $160 billion are spent to understand and comply with the tax code. Taxes are a burden in themselves, and the process of compliance should not be an additional burden. Simplification is essential. Creating fewer brackets with lower individual rates would allow people to keep more of the money they earn.

Many of the issues I have laid out today my wife and I dealt with on some level or another while starting and growing our business. Whether it was regulations, the complexity of the tax code or the instability in the marketplace, we dealt with these issues every day we came into the office. And while we did not get to go on very many vacations while we grew our business and learned how to overcome these obstacles, we did find time to make our way to Philadelphia many years ago.

I stood in the room where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our founding fathers are no longer with us, but they left us a legacy — a legacy of freedom. And that is why I ran for Congress.

From a young boy overcoming the loss of his mother, to living on my own at 16, to mopping the floor of a McDonalds, to working in a library, to starting a business with my wife and finally becoming a member of the United States House of Representatives, I have lived the American dream. I ran for office so I could go to Washington and try to bring that American dream that I’ve been privileged to share, and be a part of, to you, to your family and to your grandchildren.

It’s a dream of freedom and success based on hard work and independence. Together we can get America working again, but only if we let Americans do the work freely.

God bless you. God bless America. And God bless the great state of Tennessee.

Overall federal spending has gone way up every year. That is why we are in such a deep hole now. This year, the Congress is finally starting — possibly too late — to slow the big increase in spending.  But on May 24, the Congressional Quarterly Today publication, which goes to all members, had a headline, which read “Big Cuts Proposed to Farm Spending.” The actual chart, however, showed that the bill written about in the story — the Agricultural Appropriations bill — was going from $125.2 billion to about $125.5 billion, an actual increase of $283 million or 0.2 percent.  Big cut my foot.

Huge debt

USA Today reported in early June that the federal government now has at least $62 trillion in unfunded future liabilities. This debt comes out to almost $574,000 for every family.  Yet every group or organization that sends people from Tennessee to see me is not only unwilling for its funds to be cut, they want increases. It is the same for every member of Congress from every State.  Yet if we do not make very large cuts, in every department, and very soon, the nation is going to face problems worse than any it has ever faced.

Dodd-Frank

The Dodd-Frank financial regulatory act will drive 1,000 small    banks out of existence by the end of this decade according to the American Bankers Association.  It was passed in reaction to Wall Street abuses by some giant companies but it created approximately 5,000 rules and regulations that have been extremely costly and burdensome for small companies.  And the bill did nothing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government corporations that were largely responsible for the problems we had in the first place.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the Dodd-Frank bill had stifled credit and growth and not enough consideration had been given to its cost.  It has certainly prolonged our recession, and CNN reported on June 8 that 48 percent of the people believe we will have another great depression within the next 12 months.  Even many who did not go this far nonetheless had a negative view of the economy.

U.S. Rep. John Duncan represents Tennessee’s 2nd District.  He has been named among the five most fiscally conservative members of Congress by the National Taxpayers Union and is one of the few members of Congress to receive the Citizens Against Government Waste’s  Super Hero Award.  Duncan can be reached in his Washington, D.C. office at (202)225-5435.

At a time when the federal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends, this agreement represents a welcome change in behavior that I was glad to support.

Make no mistake.  This was a change in behavior — from spend, spend, spend to cut, cut, cut.

Let me give you one example:  On Christmas Eve, 2010, Congress raised the debt ceiling and attached to it a trillion new dollars in spending over 10 years through the new health care law.

This time, for every dollar we are raising the debt ceiling, we are reducing spending by a dollar — not adding to it.

Here is another example:  According to Sen. Portman, who used to be the nation’s budget director, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would say that if Congress did this kind of dollar-for-dollar reduction in spending every time a president asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling, we’d balance the budget in 10 years.

And one more: The Wall Street Journal reported that because of these spending cuts, the discretionary part of the budget, which is 39 percent of the entire budget, will grow over the next 10 years at a little less than the rate of inflation.  If we could control the rest of the budget so that it would grow at anything close to the rate of inflation, we’d balance the budget in no time.

And balancing the budget is exactly what our goal should be.  That’s what I did every year as governor of Tennessee.  Families in America do it every day.

It is time to balance the government’s books and live within our means.

These spending reductions are an important step —but they are just one step — and no one should underestimate how difficult the next steps will be. Our work on reducing this nation’s alarming debt has only begun.

These spending cuts do almost nothing to restructure Medicare and Social Security so that seniors can count on them and taxpayers can afford them.  The president’s budget projections still double and triple the federal debt.  Under the president’s budgets, according to the CBO, in 10 years we’ll be spending more in interest on the debt than we now spend on national defense.  And, in January, 2013, the first thing the next president will have to do is to ask Congress to increase the debt ceiling.
This problem wasn’t created overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight.  But if I were sitting at Union Station trying to catch a train to New York City and someone offered me a ticket to Baltimore or Philadelphia, I’d take it, and then find a way to get to New York from there.

This agreement was an opportunity to take an important step in the right direction — toward stopping Washington from spending money it doesn’t have.

Congress should now get ready to find ways to take the next step and the next step and the next.  The American people have a right to expect Congress to work across party lines to reduce the federal debt by at least $4 trillion over the next 10 years.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, (R-Tenn.), can be reached in his Washington, D.C. office at (202)224-4944.

It is important that we realize current financial constraints are not a temporary condition. What we’re seeing today really is the “new normal.” Every government will be forced to reassess how it sets priorities and makes choices. Transforming state government will set new expectations for what services we should be providing and how well we are delivering those services. Productivity should be the standard — the measure — for all we do in state government.

Along with being realistically conservative, the budget I proposed reflects my administration’s top priorities:

• To make Tennessee the number one location in the Southeast for high quality jobs by fostering a business-friendly environment for recruitment and expansion;

• To continue our state’s momentum in education reform with the focus on doing what’s best for Tennessee children in the classroom;

• And to ensure the state budget is managed conservatively and state government is run as efficiently and effectively as possible while delivering quality service to the citizens of Tennessee.

Tennesseans expect my administration and the General Assembly to work together to find consensus on a responsible and realistic spending plan, to educate our children, to encourage great teachers and to create more jobs.

There has been a lot of discussion about education and particularly the role of teachers during the legislative session thus far. My goal is to make Tennessee a place where great educators want to teach and feel rewarded and appreciated for their efforts. For example, tenure reform is an effort to recognize and reward achievement by our best teachers. Charter schools open new opportunities for learning, and we’re asking to allow more students across Tennessee to have the option of a charter school as a learning environment.

Our goal in education, from pre-kindergarten through post-secondary, is to grow the number of college graduates, provide a better educated workforce for employers looking to relocate or expand in Tennessee, and to let free market forces do the rest.

Our approach to government is to do away with excessive laws, rules and regulations that stifle innovation and new ideas. Government doesn’t create new jobs. What government can do is to create an environment that encourages Tennessee’s entrepreneurial spirit and to foster a culture that embraces smart growth through an educated and trained workforce.

I am committed to working with the General Assembly to set our sights on planning for the future, to think boldly, to be willing to ask questions, to gather good research and to take steps together — as a team — to set an example for how things that make a difference are uncovered and how they get done.

It is an honor to serve as governor of the great state of Tennessee, and I appreciate the opportunity to update you on what I am working on.

— Governor Bill Haslam

In one important way Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal is different from the plan that helped rebuild Western Europe after World War II:  its funding would not come from the United States government but from private gifts and foundations worldwide. And instead of the money going for rebuilding bombed out industrial plants and roads it more likely would be spent on schools, health clinics and clean water.

Fundamentally, though, the plans are similar. Both Gen. George C. Marshall in 1947 and Prime Minister Netanyahu today proposed helping adversaries as well as allies.

Both aim to relieve hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Both proposals are based squarely on self-interest, as antidotes to the spread of philosophies unfriendly to democracy:  communism in the case of post-war Europe; militant Islam in the Middle East today.

In both cases, applicants for the money would write their own plans. In 1948, 16 nations met in Paris to develop the Marshall Plan. President Truman then submitted it for approval to the United States Congress.  Most of the money was distributed by grants that did not have to be repaid.

The first Marshall plan was short-term (1948-1952) and so should be this one.  The goal is not to create dependencies but to help people stand on their own.

There are other important differences.

The new Middle East Marshall Plan would cost much less.  The Marshall plan spent between $115 billion and $130 billion, in today’s dollars, over four years.  If a Middle Eastern plan carefully distributed a few billion dollars over five years it could have an enormous impact.

The Marshall Plan started out buying food and fuel and ended up rebuilding bombed out industrial plants, roads and other infrastructure.

In addition to helping fund schools and clinics, a Middle Eastern plan is more likely to spend money on a corps of young people who are paid a subsistence wage to strengthen their own country.

Marshall Plan money went to 16 European governments.  Money for the Middle Eastern plan should probably be distributed through non-governmental organizations.

After World War II, there was a clear effort to impose on Europe (and Japan) the American model.   We should have learned by now that the path to democracy in the Middle East is more likely to be uniquely Middle Eastern.

The original Marshall Plan was paid for mostly by the United States taxpayers. Money for the new plan should come from around the world.

The first Marshall Plan money was used mostly for purchase of goods from the United States.  Today those goods would be purchased from around parts of the world.

What are the next steps? First, a coalition of foundations should step forward and announce its willingness to consider proposals from Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries that would assist a transition to a more democratic form of government.

Second, the first grants should be quickly approved, probably to non-governmental organizations already in place.  The original Marshall Plan moved slowly.   In this age of instant telecommunications, freedom fighters expect immediate results.   Some evidence of improvement in their lives could help sustain a movement toward democracy against the lure of militant Islam.

An early State Department memorandum compared Gen. Marshall’s proposal to a Flying Saucer — “nobody knows what it looks like, how big it is, or whether it really exists.”  Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposal also is usefully vague, with details to be filled in later by applicants for grants.     But shouldn’t it be enough simply to propose  helping people struggling for freedom based upon the hard-eyed belief that their success will benefit  other democratic countries including the United States and Israel?