Tea Parties Reject Republican's Attempt to Expand Government

Dec. 24, 2010 - PRLog -- Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA-10) has sponsored H.R. 5980, the ‘Bring Jobs Back to America: Strategic Manufacturing & Job Repatriation Act’. Ervin Ackman, purportedly on behalf of the Central Texas Tea Party Patriots, has been contacting tea party groups to encourage them to support this bill when it is re-introduced in the next congress.

The tea party and patriot organizations from Frank Wolf’s district support the goal of revitalizing an American manufacturing base, but realize that the proposed legislation will only serve to expand government and thereby further hinder the American economy.

The government does not create jobs, citizens do. America’s greatness was achieved by allowing individuals to reach their potential without unnecessary government interference. This is reflected in the three principles of the tea party movement; yet all three of these principles are violated by the proposed legislation.

The bill is not fiscally responsible. It creates a new commission with task forces to generate more paper in Washington.  The commission will then centrally determine the preferred industries and provide subsidies in the amount of $71,000 per job.

The bill does not respect the spirit of a constitutionally limited government. It requires all firms that want to participate in the program to reveal proprietary data about their firm.

The bill violates the free markets. The task forces and commission will make recommendations as to which market segments should receive funding. It then provides incentives to firms who employ people in other countries; thereby penalizing firms that are entirely based in the U.S.

It is also doubtful that the government will be able to properly identify jobs that are repatriated, let alone those repatriated due to this legislation. Large corporations often increase and decrease the size of regional offices due to market demands. It would be easy for any large corporation to claim normal job fluctuations as job repatriation and receive a tax credit; thereby providing a subsidy to the large corporations at the expense of the small U.S. based employer.

Several tea party leaders met with Frank Wolf’s staff on December 20th to discuss these concerns; while his staff was pleasant enough, they did not even bother to take notes. Instead, they insisted that this type of central planning was necessary because other countries are already doing it.

The tea party leaders suggested a number of alternative approaches to revitalizing the American economy, including: balancing the budget, removing the ban on off-shore drilling, stop subsidizing Brazil in their deep-water off-shore drilling, decreasing the corporate income tax, forcing importers to pay for security screening of their cargo, establishing a commission to identify unnecessary regulations, and decreasing the corporate income tax. However, the staff merely responded, “We can do all sorts of things, but that doesn’t mean that the Senate and President will sign on to it.” Perhaps not, but at least we can make the case for smaller government, rather than proposing ways to enlarge government and hurt businesses.

In short, this bill increases the size and cost of government, infringes upon individual rights, and interferes with the free market.  These actions will further depress the American economy. The undersigned tea parties from northern Virginia have suggested a variety of alternative solutions and we encourage tea parties from across America to contact their congressmen to block this bill and work towards real reform by creating a more friendly economic environment by reducing our debt, protecting individual rights, and providing for free markets.

Alexandria Tea Party
Loudoun Tax Payers for Accountable Government
Manassas Tea Party
Northern Virginia 912
Northern Virginia Tea Party, Inc.
Tea Party WDC

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Northern Virginia 912 seeks to restore the principles, values, and integrity originally protected by our Constitution, including free enterprise.