GOP strategy: Root for failure

 

By: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

President Barack Obama is offering middle-class Americans sensible bipartisan solutions to help get the economy moving again, as the Republican presidential field continues pandering to the most extreme elements of its party in the important early primary and caucus states.

The president is hard at work pushing Republicans in Congress to take action on the American Jobs Act — and taking bold action when Congress won’t, while Republican candidates are joining Karl Rove and David and Charles Koch in spending millions of dollars in the early states to distort the truth.

The message from the president is clear: The American people can’t wait for a dysfunctional and hyperpartisan Republican Party in Congress to act.

Last week, he spoke to the American people about bold steps the administration is taking to overcome Republican obstructionism in Congress. He highlighted two major hurdles facing the American people and ways the administration is working to overcome them.

In Las Vegas, the president outlined a plan to make it easier for some homeowners to refinance their mortgages. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, directed by him, announced a set of steps to knock down barriers to help responsible borrowers with little or no equity in their homes take advantage of low mortgage rates. These steps will help families refinance their homes and save hundreds of dollars a month.

And in Denver, the president announced new measures to help students save money and better manage their loans when they graduate.

The president has been clear: These actions are not a replacement for the American Jobs Act. Congress must take action to alleviate the constant pressure middle-class families are feeling and work together to create jobs and grow the economy. The stakes are too high and the consequences too dire if Congress continues to do nothing.

If we break down the numbers and look at the four early states, we can see the impact the American Jobs Act will have on small-business owners and the middle class. The American Jobs Act is a mix of tax breaks for middle-class families and small businesses and targeted aid to help keep teachers in the classroom and police and firefighters on the beat and to get construction workers on the job rebuilding our bridges and roads.

In Iowa, the American Jobs Act would provide the typical working family a tax break of $1,580.

In New Hampshire, the American Jobs Act would provide payroll tax breaks to 30,000 small businesses.

In Nevada, the American Jobs Act would keep up to 3,600 teachers and first responders on the job.

In South Carolina, the American Jobs Act would create more than 6,300 jobs for projects to build and repair roads, bridges and schools.

Contrast these numbers with what the Republicans are offering — nothing more than the same failed economic policies that created the recession and deprived millions of middle-classes families of their economic security.

Indeed, while the president is focused on saving homeowners thousands of dollars each year by helping them refinance their mortgages, Mitt Romney went to Nevada and told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that we should not “try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.” He went on to say that it would be better to have families lose their homes so investors could swoop in, buy foreclosed homes and turn a profit, literally leaving the average American homeowner out in the cold.

This should come as no surprise from the candidate who wants to repeal Wall Street reform to allow bankers to write their own rules. Romney wants to give bankers and traders free rein to run over middle-class families again on their way to raking in record-breaking profits.

Just a few short years ago, the economy, the housing market and the economic security of millions of Americans were completely shattered because bankers were taking risky bets on people’s mortgages.

What is Romney’s prescription for curing this ailment? He wants to kick those same people who have been suffering out of their homes, allow bankers and investors to make a quick buck and then rewrite the laws to allow bankers to write their own rules. Romney doesn’t just want to return to the same policies that brought our economy to its knees; he wants to double down on them.

But he doesn’t just stack the deck against hard-working American homeowners; he also undermines America’s middle class through tax policy. His tax plan slashes taxes for the wealthiest and corporations but does nothing to help middle-class families. In a telling moment at a Republican debate just a couple of weeks ago, he called payroll tax cuts in the American Jobs Act “little Band-Aids.”

He is so out of touch with working Americans he believes that families in Iowa would consider a tax break of $1,580 “just a little Band-Aid.” That $1,580 may be just another drop in the bucket for the CEOs and special interest groups that fund Romney’s campaign, but that money covers the cost of groceries and bills for average Americans.

While the Republicans may be getting more attention in the early states right now, there’s no denying that voters will face a very stark choice next year. Obama continues working to find sensible solutions to get more Americans back to work and to rebuild the economy through a strong middle class. Meanwhile, Republicans continue advocating tax breaks for the wealthiest and corporations while shifting more burdens onto seniors and the middle class.

Americans can’t wait. They need action now to get the economy moving again. The president continues to work hard to turn the economy around. Republicans need to get off the sidelines and join him and stop rooting for the economy’s failure in order to win an election.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.