Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following opening remarks at the first meeting of the H.R. 3630 Conference Committee:
Full transcript of Senator Barrasso’s opening remarks:
“Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. As we’ve heard, time is short and the issues are challenging—the issues of job creation, taxes and spending.
“Americans are going to be watching what we do—and the goal is to get a positive result for America’s small businesses, Americans who are looking for work and for all American taxpayers.
“I just heard my colleague say though that you might note about the different standard—we’re talking about social security money and making sure that money is there. And this is a sacred trust. So, we need to make sure that that funding is there and there is a pay for.
“We need to work together as a conference to extend the payroll tax holiday for the rest of this year—set the stage for real, permanent pro-growth tax reform.
“So I would like to make some comments following what Representative Upton has said regarding job creation.
“If we are going to be serious about creating jobs, it is critical to also provide meaningful relief from government red tape.
“The President has said repeatedly that he is committed to cutting red tape – but his rhetoric has not matched his actions. His Executive Order for regulatory relief has gone unfulfilled. Here we are a year later.
“If we want to turn our economy around, we’ve got to reduce and repeal costly regulations that are strangling the economy. They’re burdensome, they’re expensive and they’re time consuming.
“In addition to tax reform and regulatory reform, we need energy security and the jobs that go with it.
“The White House announced that the President will talk about energy development tonight in his State of the Union speech.
“It going to be hard to take his words seriously after his irresponsible decision regarding the Keystone XL pipeline.
“The President should have embraced the American jobs and the energy that comes with the pipeline.
“We need to put politics aside and build the Keystone XL pipeline now.
“If the President really believes that we can’t wait as he says, for American job creation, he should immediately reverse his Keystone XL decision.
“And we must work to provide the certainty to our nation’s Medicare patients and the physicians who care for them.
“One of the reasons that we have this problem today is because the President’s health care law was full of budget gimmicks and accounting tricks – not permanent solutions.
“Fixing Medicare’s broken payment system should have been a cornerstone piece of health reform.
“So with that Mr. Chairman, I am ready to work in a bipartisan way to seize these opportunities that are ahead of us.”
Background:
On December 30th, 2011, U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appointed Senator Barrasso to serve on the H.R. 3630 Conference Committee. The Committee is tasked with resolving differences between the House passed bill and the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3630, The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011.
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