Tom Rooney: 9.8 Percent Unemployment is Why Tax Cuts Need to be Extended for All

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney hammered the Obama administration and Democrats on Friday for not backing extending tax cuts supported by George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 to all Americans -- and pointed to the newly released national unemployment rate as to why all Americans needed tax breaks.

When will Democrats finally decide theyve had enough of sticking it to small businesses? demanded Rooney. This has been one of the most anti-business, anti-small-business congresses and administrations in our nations history, and the numbers tell the story. Nineteen straight months of 9.4 percent unemployment or higher, the longest stretch since the Great Depression.

The American people spoke loud and clear on Nov. 2, and they have had enough of this Congress and this administration punishing small businesses who are trying to make ends meet and hire new workers, said Rooney, who is a possible candidate to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. No more new taxes, no more costly mandates, no more excessive regulation.

Congress should act immediately to extend all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, so that small businesses and job-creators can have the stability they need to grow and hire new workers, continued Rooney. Then we need to begin rolling back the new taxes and costly mandates of the last two years, so we can get the federal government off the backs and out of the wallets of our small businesses.