Young Guns : A New Generation of Conservative Leaders by Eric Cantor;Paul Ryan;Kevin McCarthy Page A
Authors: Eric Cantor;Paul Ryan;Kevin McCarthy
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Democratic lawmakers, led by Financial Services chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), gambled with the taxpayers’ money on millions of risky loans and then blamed everyone else when their house of cards fell down. Left out in the cold were the nine out of ten Americans who had behaved responsibly and were continuing to work hard, play by the rules, and pay their mortgages on time.
Again, far from being the party of no, we had a better way to keep honest, hard-working Americans in their homes and to stop the free fall in housing prices. To keep responsible homeowners who are at risk of losing theirhome through no fault of their own, such as those who find themselves temporarily out of work, we offered a $5,000 refinancing tax credit.
And instead of offering incentives for more irresponsible behavior, we offered incentives for Americans to buy new homes or refinance at a lower rate. Our plan included a $15,000 tax credit for the purchase of a primary home provided that the buyer paid 5 percent down. It also included incentives for lenders to keep owners in their homes by refinancing mortgages and lowering monthly payments. If the homeowner agreed to share a portion of future home appreciation with the lender, the lender would be exempted from taxes on eventual profits and the borrower would not pay taxes as the result of refinancing.
Our plan was very different from the administration’s plan to have the taxpayers foot the bill for modifying mortgages. We believed that enough irresponsible financial behavior was being bailed out by Washington. It was time to stick up for the Americans who weren’t walking away; those who were sacrificing to do the right thing and pay their mortgages.
We also differed—radically—from the Democrats in charge of Washington when it came to energy and the environment. Their cap-and-trade bill has rightly been called a cap-and-tax bill. It would essentially amount to a national energy tax that would slam small businesses with higher energy bills and put more pressure on already strugglingmiddle-class American families. Even President Obama, during his presidential campaign, told the editorial board at the San Francisco Chronicle that the policy would cause electricity rates to “skyrocket.” At a time of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, it’s the last thing we need. And yet Speaker Pelosi and congressional Democrats have called it their number one priority.
All you have to do is look around you—and read a little history—to know that the best thing a nation can do for its environment is to generate wealth and prosperity. There aren’t a lot of struggling, developing nations devoting their effort and resources to protecting the environment. And, contrary to all the fans of authoritarian regimes like China in the columns of the mainstream media, it’s not the economies smothered by big government that are producing the innovations that will supply “green” energy.
There’s a better way to protect our jobs and protect our environment—it’s offering incentives to develop new energy technologies, not penalties for heating your home and operating your business. We need to protect our national security by developing American sources of energy like our clean natural gas and our abundant coal from shale. And we need to offer incentives for our companies to develop the alternative energy we need to make us energy independent. The last thing America’s economy, our national security, or our environment needs is more taxes to kill jobs and stifle innovation. It is important that we diversify energy sourcesfor both our economic and environmental security. And Republicans developed the American Energy Act, which shows that being conservative and green go hand in hand.
What is most heartbreaking for me looking back on the past year and a half is the wasted potential it represents. President Obama and the strengthened Democratic majority in Congress rode
Again, far from being the party of no, we had a better way to keep honest, hard-working Americans in their homes and to stop the free fall in housing prices. To keep responsible homeowners who are at risk of losing theirhome through no fault of their own, such as those who find themselves temporarily out of work, we offered a $5,000 refinancing tax credit.
And instead of offering incentives for more irresponsible behavior, we offered incentives for Americans to buy new homes or refinance at a lower rate. Our plan included a $15,000 tax credit for the purchase of a primary home provided that the buyer paid 5 percent down. It also included incentives for lenders to keep owners in their homes by refinancing mortgages and lowering monthly payments. If the homeowner agreed to share a portion of future home appreciation with the lender, the lender would be exempted from taxes on eventual profits and the borrower would not pay taxes as the result of refinancing.
Our plan was very different from the administration’s plan to have the taxpayers foot the bill for modifying mortgages. We believed that enough irresponsible financial behavior was being bailed out by Washington. It was time to stick up for the Americans who weren’t walking away; those who were sacrificing to do the right thing and pay their mortgages.
We also differed—radically—from the Democrats in charge of Washington when it came to energy and the environment. Their cap-and-trade bill has rightly been called a cap-and-tax bill. It would essentially amount to a national energy tax that would slam small businesses with higher energy bills and put more pressure on already strugglingmiddle-class American families. Even President Obama, during his presidential campaign, told the editorial board at the San Francisco Chronicle that the policy would cause electricity rates to “skyrocket.” At a time of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, it’s the last thing we need. And yet Speaker Pelosi and congressional Democrats have called it their number one priority.
All you have to do is look around you—and read a little history—to know that the best thing a nation can do for its environment is to generate wealth and prosperity. There aren’t a lot of struggling, developing nations devoting their effort and resources to protecting the environment. And, contrary to all the fans of authoritarian regimes like China in the columns of the mainstream media, it’s not the economies smothered by big government that are producing the innovations that will supply “green” energy.
There’s a better way to protect our jobs and protect our environment—it’s offering incentives to develop new energy technologies, not penalties for heating your home and operating your business. We need to protect our national security by developing American sources of energy like our clean natural gas and our abundant coal from shale. And we need to offer incentives for our companies to develop the alternative energy we need to make us energy independent. The last thing America’s economy, our national security, or our environment needs is more taxes to kill jobs and stifle innovation. It is important that we diversify energy sourcesfor both our economic and environmental security. And Republicans developed the American Energy Act, which shows that being conservative and green go hand in hand.
What is most heartbreaking for me looking back on the past year and a half is the wasted potential it represents. President Obama and the strengthened Democratic majority in Congress rode
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