March 2009

When Is Enough, Enough?

By Jon Huey, on March 25, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech on March 25, 2009.

M. Speaker:

Abraham Lincoln once told of a farmer who said, “I ain’t greedy for land – all I want is what’s next to mine.”

Our federal government is starting to resemble that farmer.  HR 146 is a massive land grab that would literally put more land into wilderness designation than we have actually developed.  That pretty much means no human activities other than walking through it – as long as you don’t touch anything.

Honk If You’re Paying My Mortgage

By Jon Huey, on March 17, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech on March 17, 2009.

M. Speaker:

I have been asked to present more than 6,000 postcards generated by the Armstrong and Getty radio show to protest policies that can best be described by the new bumper sticker, “Honk if you’re paying my mortgage,” or today’s reprise, “Honk if you’re paying AIG’s bonuses.”

Rick Santelli of CNBC struck a nerve last month when he asked, “How many of you want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgage who has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills?”

Tax Time

By Jon Huey, on March 13, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech on March 12, 2009.

Mr. Speaker:  Many people were quite relieved when President Obama promised to reduce taxes on 95 percent of Americans.

Last week, the President introduced his new budget that depends on a staggering tax increase of $1.4 trillion over the next ten years.  If that fell on all of us, it would come to nearly $15,000 on an average family of four – or $1,500 per year out of that family’s paychecks.

So what a relief to hear the President’s assurances that it’s only going to be a tax on the rich.

The Radical Policies Of The Global Warm-mongers

By Jon Huey, on March 10, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following speech to Heartland Institute's International Conference on Climate Change on March 9, 2009.

A Tale of Two Presidents

By Jon Huey, on March 9, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech on March 6, 2009.

Mr. Speaker:

We have all heard a great deal of rhetoric blaming the Bush administration for the nation’s economic woes, and I actually rise to join that chorus.

We all are painfully aware that the Bush administration increased spending twice as fast as it did under Bill Clinton.  The Bush administration added $160 billion to the deficit through tax transfers with its first stimulus bill a year ago – despite warnings that it would do nothing to stimulate the economy.  It didn’t.

The Human Cost of Over-Regulation

By Jon Huey, on March 5, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech on March 3, 2009.

M. Speaker:  Sierra Pacific Industries just announced the closure of its sawmill in Quincy, California, throwing another 150 families out of work.

They made it clear that the recession wasn’t the cause but merely the catalyst. The real cause is that their regulatory costs – and litigation because of regulation – now exceeds their profit margin.  Two thirds of their harvest is tied up as a result.

Life on the Downside of the Laffer Curve

By Jon Huey, on March 4, 2009

Rep. McClintock gave the following floor speech on March 3, 2009.

M. Speaker:

The Laffer Curve is a simple but elegant method of demonstrating how increasing taxes reduces economic productivity until a point of equilibrium is reached when further tax hikes actually reduce revenue.

If the tax rate is zero, tax revenues are zero.  But if the tax rate is 100 percent, tax revenues also reach zero, because there’s no point in working.