Adrian Smith
Labor Day is an opportunity to acknowledge and show appreciation for the contributions of the American workforce. Unfortunately, American workers don’t have much to celebrate this Labor Day. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1.2 million workers have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more. Some 5.2 million workers across the United States are “not in the labor force who currently want a job.” Real wages have decreased 4 percent since President Biden took office, overall prices are up over 16 percent, and interest rates are soaring. This is the reality families everywhere are faced with as the Biden administration touts “Bidenomics.” No wonder a recent CNN poll found the majority of Americans are feeling pessimistic about the economy.
Despite the challenges we face, there are policies we can enact to empower American workers and job creators. Whether it’s leaning in on a strong, strategic trade agenda or implementing broad-based, pro-growth tax policy, we can and should take steps to make Americans feel optimistic about our economy.
The Biden administration has been content to take a back seat on trade. Just look at how long it has taken for them to enter formal dispute resolution proceedings with Mexico over Mexico’s unscientific ban on U.S. biotech corn. This is one of the most clear-cut violations of the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), yet it’s been nearly three years since Mexico announced their intent to ban biotech corn. USMCA contains strong mechanisms to hold our trading partners accountable, and domestic corn producers should not have had to wait this long for the administration to stand with them and demand accountability.
The administration’s lack of enthusiasm for trade doesn’t stop at failure to enforce existing trade agreements – they’ve completely abandoned any effort to negotiate real, enforceable trade agreements, opting instead to pursue loose “dialogues” and “frameworks.” Trade policy has the potential to lower costs for consumers, support domestic jobs, and ensure America dominates the global economy. As I say often: there’s no treading water on trade. You’re either moving ahead or you’re falling behind, and right now the United States has fallen behind.
There’s also much more we can do through our tax code to support workers and job creators. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), Republicans lowered tax rates for families through a doubled standard deduction and enacted a more pro-family tax code by doubling the child tax credit. These reforms – paired with tax incentives for small businesses like full expensing of new capital expenditures and a 20% deduction for small business income – helped ensure tax reform benefited almost every American, not just favored industries like recent Biden administration tax policies have.
Tax reform works, which is why I am working hard to make the policies that benefited families and small businesses permanent. Unfortunately, Democrats refuse to come to the table to find a compromise on provisions like the child tax credit – opting instead to pursue expensive and inflationary proposals that would only make the economy more challenging for families who can least afford the additional burden. Still, the House Ways and Means Committee, of which I am a member, is working on economic policies to ensure hardworking Americans can keep more of their pay – and foster growth and innovation across our economy.
While many workers understandably feel discouraged this Labor Day, I will keep fighting for pro-growth, pro-America tax and trade policies to get our country back on track.