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Health & Fitness

Becker Unveils Middle Class Jobs Plan

Legislator Fran Becker announced his Middle Class Jobs Plan that will jumpstart Long Island's economy and empower families, small businesses

Originally released: July 23, 2012

Legislator announces proposal to jumpstart Long Island’s economy and empower families, small businesses

Legislator Fran Becker (R-Lynbrook), the Republican candidate for Congress in New York’s Fourth Congressional District, surprised 16-year Democrat incumbent Carolyn McCarthy at her Long Island Jobs Fair at Nassau Community College armed with his own Middle Class Jobs Plan to jumpstart Long Island’s economy and empower working families and small businesses.

Becker discussed the key parts of his Middle Class Jobs Plan revolving around the key principles of Fixing the Tax Code to Help Job Creators, Increasing Competitiveness for American Manufacturers, Encouraging Entrepreneurship and Growth, Maximizing Domestic Energy Production and Paying Down the Nation’s Unsustainable Debt.

“My Middle Class Jobs Plan will jumpstart our economy through job creation right here in Nassau County, on Long Island and across our country.  It’s a commonsense plan to fix today’s uncertain economic times,” Becker said.

The precepts of Becker’s Middle Class Jobs Plan are supported by 132 American economists that include Professor Mario J. Rizzo of the New York University Department of Economics and American economist and former United States Secretary of Labor (1969-70), Treasury (1972-74), and State (1982-89) George P. Shultz.  Additionally, economists from Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon, among many others, also support this plan.

“Economic growth and jobs are the backbone of our community and this country,” said Legislator Becker.  “Right now, we’re doggie-paddling around in the worst national economy since the Great Depression.  And what is Carolyn McCarthy doing about it?  Nothing…other than worry about the optics for her re-election campaign.  And that’s what’s taking place inside here….nothing more than optics.  In Congress, I’m going to fight to stop government policies that are hurting small businesses, something our current Congresswoman couldn’t care less about doing,” Becker stated standing outside McCarthy’s “Jobs Fair” event.

“As a small businessperson myself, it’s the government’s ‘red tape’ that prevents me from even thinking of hiring a new employee.  Everyone’s dealt with some sort of bureaucratic red tape at one point or another, but Carolyn McCarthy and our president keep adding more red tape than before – the largest clump of it being the job-killing ObamaCare.  Eliminating regulations that prevent small businesses from hiring new employees will be my top priority in Congress.  It will go a long way,” added Becker.

Becker pointed out that currently, the national unemployment rate has been above eight percent for more than three years.  Prices are also higher for everything from gasoline to groceries to health care.  Carolyn McCarthy and Barack Obama even gutted the common-sense work requirements at the core of President Bill Clinton’s historic, bipartisan welfare reforms – a clear admission that Obama’s economic policies have failed. (Source: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Information Memorandum, US Department of Health and Human Services, July 12, 2012) 

Additionally, “[w]elfare experts frame the change as a slight walk-back from the stringent changes to the work requirements established in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.” (Source: The Washington Post.  “Is Obama gutting Welfare Reform?”  July 17, 2012)

“But instead of working with her colleagues in Congress to address these challenges and help create new jobs, Carolyn McCarthy is on the campaign trail with political gimmicks that do nothing.  Her plan is to wait this out.  That’s naive.  We need to fix it and fix it now,” said Becker.

“Enough is enough!  Carolyn McCarthy talks a good game but after 16 years in Congress, she’s checked out.  Too many people are unemployed or underemployed still, and that number keeps growing.  How can Carolyn McCarthy fix today’s moribund economy when she doesn’t understand there’s even a problem?  Today’s unemployment rate on Long Island is at a staggering 7.4%.  Last month’s jobs report said only 80,000 jobs were added in the entire country.  Obviously we have a problem – after years of failed economic leadership, she’s no longer the person to fix it,” said Becker.

Becker’s Middle Class Jobs Plan

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