Going Back on the Deal - Camp's 'Letter to the Editor' Response

The Ways and Means bill has little chance of passing the Senate with the Democrats in charge. But it provides dangerous fuel to antitax efforts in the states. And it presages more fights to come in Washington.

Joblessness is not expected to fall much this year, so come 2012, federal benefits will need to be renewed. Republicans are sure to resist, even though the arguments for renewal are sound: the benefits bolster the economy by supporting consumption and they are a humane response to economic calamity. There are better ways to help the states and bolster business during tough times. Reducing unemployment benefits is the wrong choice.

To the Editor:

“Going Back on the Deal” (editorial, May 16) concludes that “there are better ways” to help the unemployed than the Jobs Act, and that changes to the unemployment program go back on a December deal between the administration and Congress.

The only thing the Jobs Act “goes back on” is the tired notion that more Washington spending is the only way to help the unemployed.

Here are five facts about the bill: (1) it gives states flexibility to help the jobless in their state get working again; (2) it sets minimum standards to ensure that more people receiving benefits engage in basic job search and education; (3) it helps prevent immediate tax increases on jobs; (4) it doesn’t bail out some states at the expense of others; and (5) it doesn’t add to the deficit.

DAVE CAMP
Washington, May 17, 2011

The writer, the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, is the author of the Jobs Act.