JOBS PLAN

JOBS PLAN FOR OREGON

REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

December 5, 2011

I’m a native Oregonian, born in Multnomah County and raised in Washington and Yamhill counties. You might say, I’m a son of the First District.

Sixteen years ago, using money from our savings account and a spare bedroom in our Tualatin home, my wife Allison and I launched a small business called Game Face.

Over time, we’ve been able to employ 60 people – and their families, if you will – and acquire about 400 clients throughout North America and Europe. All in all, our firm has serviced more than 30,000 executives in our industry.

But perhaps what gives me the most satisfaction is that our company has played a direct role in helping to launch the careers of more than 500 young people in our very-hard-to-break-into industry.

Yet despite these accomplishments, as the father of three sons, I wonder how my kids and grandkids and your kids and grandkids will find or build a career in the future. Will they have to leave our state to find opportunities? Will we only see them when they come to visit?

Or, can we make real changes in the way we do things so that Oregon becomes a better place to work, contribute to one’s community, and someday retire?

People have asked, rightly, how my professional experience starting and running a small business prepares me to be a Member of Congress. A fair question, with a simple answer:

The most important task of Congress today is to make sure our economy is creating jobs, something I’ve been fortunate enough to do. And I am proud to announce that I have just received the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Business, the leading voice for small business owners across the country. This is on top of the 20 mayors – Republican, Democrat, and Independent – in our district that have already stepped forward to endorse me because they believe I’m the best candidate to partner with them in creating jobs for northwest Oregon.

You see, I know how hard it is to create a job, and I know how easy it is to constrain jobs through shortsighted policy.

I’ve been fortunate to have signed the front of paychecks for 16 years. Yet, like many of you, I understand what it’s like to get to the bottom of that stack, pause, then quietly slip that last check into your desk drawer, knowing it wouldn’t be fiscally responsible to pay yourself just yet.

To start my business, I had to travel the country, armed with nothing but my ideas and the will to succeed. Through patience and perseverance, I was able to break into some of the most storied and successful front offices in the sports world, convincing them that they needed what I had to offer. After building their trust, I executed on that promise, and kept their business.

When name brands as recognizable as the St. Louis Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, and Boston Celtics needed expertise in certain areas of their business, they called all the way to Tualatin, Oregon to get it.

As a small business owner, I knew I had to wake up every day and deliver positive, visible results – for my company, my employees, and my family. I’m accustomed to solving problems, not pointing fingers.

So, I would ask those who say I don’t have the experience for Congress: we’ve been electing lawyers-turned-career politicians for years. How do you like the results that’s getting us?

I’m wired to create jobs, launch careers, build consensus, and work within a budget. I’ve met a payroll for 194 straight months. I think we need more of that skill set in Washington, D.C., not less.

So, if I’m fortunate enough to be chosen by the voters of the First District, what would I do in Congress?

While it seems typical of candidates, especially those who’ve never actually hired someone in the private sector, to lay out a hundred-point plan on how they’re going to create jobs, I’d like to focus on Three Pillars essential to growing our economy.

The first is: We need a simple, predictable, and fair tax code.

Can anyone here answer the following questions with any degree of confidence?

1. What will the tax rates be on individuals and small businesses at the end of next year?

2. What will the tax rate be on investments and new businesses?

3. What will the tax brackets look like?

None of us knows the answers – including Members of Congress. And that’s the problem. We have politicians saying that businesses should invest and create jobs, but they keep tinkering with the rule book and threaten to change it every 12 months or so. And then they act surprised that companies (who they simultaneously like to demonize) are holding an estimated $2 trillion in cash reserves rather than investing it.

Employers, whether they’re putting their own money at risk or that of investors, need stability and assurance so they can plan, budget, and measure risk. Though their future is uncertain, they’re sure of one thing: Congress is paralyzed with partisanship.

So, what can we – or more specifically, what can I – do about it?

I’m increasingly hearing of a quiet, emerging bipartisan consensus that we need wholesale changes to the tax code. Our politics, however, is stuck in a tired argument about 10-year-old tax policy and band-aid approaches to tax relief. It’s gotten us nowhere.

We need people who will stop talking and start enacting tax overhaul that is bold and bipartisan – which would raise revenues AND decrease our dependence on government spending – since more people would be working.

So what would a tax overhaul look like? Well, it’s important to first understand where the current system is failing us.

For starters, it’s 10,000 pages of maze-like loopholes, written by lawyers and understood only by those who can afford them. Meanwhile, lobbyists swoop in and assist mega-corporations in not only navigating through the clutter, but also in greasing government to help their clients avoid taxes. Indeed, the well connected become the well compensated.

The most famous of these cases is General Electric, which, in 2010, made over $14 billion in profits worldwide, yet paid no federal income tax. And 30 mega-corporations made a profit between 2008 and 2010, yet claimed a net tax benefit.

So who gets stuck paying the bill? Oregon’s middle class and our small- and medium-sized businesses. How is that fair?

Everyone knows our country needs more revenue. We can begin by reforming and eliminating unfair and politically motivated corporate loopholes.

Don’t get me wrong. Some deductions are important to sustain any growth or constancy our economy has. For example, we need to maintain the mortgage interest deduction, which was designed to help middle-income families afford a home. But, do we really need to allow the deduction for second homes? Is it important for our government to subsidize vacation homes for those who don’t need it? Of course not.

President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility (known as the Simpson-Bowles Commission) spent eight months coming up with bipartisan recommendations for eliminating loopholes and lowering tax rates across the board. While some of these recommendations need greater and updated scrutiny, the result is a simpler tax code that doesn’t pick winners and losers and that broadens the tax base to bring in those who are avoiding taxes.

A tax overhaul is doable, and the American people, who spent nearly 6 billion hours last year preparing their taxes, are ready for this change.

Now, the second pillar to strengthen our economy:

While we’re creating a simple, predictable, and fair tax code for our families and businesses to plan around, we need our next congressional representative to be an aggressive advocate for Oregon workers in the world marketplace.

That starts by electing someone in Oregon’s First District who has a business sense for promoting what we do well while also recruiting others to invest here. My background is ideally suited to fill this need.

Obviously, I’m talking about trade. But successful trade also requires that we never take our eye off the ball in seeing that 1) we knock down tariffs and other barriers for Oregon products and services, and 2) we defend Oregon interests by holding our trading partners accountable to agreements they’ve signed.

Since our early days, Oregon has been built on trade, and the First District has been dependent on it. The most populous Oregon district today is also the most multi-faceted. We sit on the Pacific Rim where 40% of the world’s population resides, boasting diverse and valuable goods and services produced in the high-tech sector of Washington County, the fisheries on the North Coast, the forests in Columbia and Clatsop counties, the nurseries and vineyards in Yamhill County, and the center of business activity in Downtown Portland. Bordered by the navigable waters of the Columbia and Willamette, our largest city is called Portland for a reason.

Portland Business Alliance released a report showing that 470,000 jobs in Oregon are dependent on international trade. And, specific to the Portland region, the Brookings Institution estimates as many as 268,000 jobs rely on international business.

Truly, our assets are the envy of districts throughout the country and are the basis of our current jobs and future jobs – but only if we take advantage of our strengths. It’s time for leadership that will capitalize on a growing world economy that wants our products. I will work to provide greater access to what we produce.

Specifically, our largest employer in the First District is Intel. Eighty percent of their revenue is earned overseas, drawing a direct line between its trade success and the $3 billion D1X investment in Washington County.

As we consider our current partners in Asia, we look to South Korea, which is purchasing nearly $1 billion in Oregon goods this year alone – and that was before the recent Free Trade Agreement was signed, which I alone supported among the two leading candidates for this congressional seat.

And to China, our biggest trade partner, Oregon is exporting over $3 billion in goods in 2011. This figure doesn’t even capture the value of Oregon’s leading services exports like software, architecture, and engineering.

I give this context to underline how important China is as a market for Oregon workers, but it’s a trade relationship that requires each side play by the rules to which it’s agreed.

For instance, I support SolarWorld’s effort to crack down on illegal Chinese subsidies of solar panels because I believe in a vigorous defense of our companies and workers. Just as aggressively as I will fight to move Oregon products around the world, I will vigorously fight to make sure we are competing on an even playing field.

Ladies and gentlemen, trade is an essential part of rebuilding a prosperous Oregon and nation, and we need to continue to enact and monitor agreements that open new markets for the First District. If we’re allowed to compete, I believe we can win.

While we build a simple, predictable, and fair tax system so our entrepreneurs and businesses can invest, and as we aggressively help them find new customers around the world, Congress has to get serious about getting our country’s fiscal house in order.

A balanced budget is the right thing to do for job creation today and for tomorrow. This is the third pillar of a sound economy.

In 1997, President Clinton and a Republican Congress collaborated on a set of tax reforms designed to grow the economy, coupled with spending controls designed to slow the growth of government.

What happened? Between 1996 and 2001, ten million additional taxpayers joined the rolls as a result of new jobs.

We enjoyed four straight years of government surpluses between 1998 and 2001.

And the unemployment rate plummeted to 4%.

Reform isn’t rocket science; it just requires political leadership and a desire to solve problems — not jockey for the next election. It requires putting people before partisanship. And maybe it means we need to get rid of long-time insiders who are more focused on climbing the next rung of their political career than serving the public interest.

One thing running a business has taught me is that sustained revenues seem to fix most problems. That’s why I believe the best way to balance the budget is to grow the economy. And the first two plans I laid out must be the cornerstones of any jobs plan.

But, we can’t simply hope that the industriousness of Oregonians and Americans will save us from spendthrift politicians. New congressional courage is needed to protect future generations from having to pay for this continuous “credit card congress.”

2011 has produced a $1.3 trillion deficit, the second highest in history.

Our national debt now sits around $15 trillion, a number unfathomable just 10 years ago. And last year, $414 billion in taxpayer money was spent to pay down the interest on that debt – yet we have nothing productive to show for it.

We need to control the growth of government borrowing and we need to do it in a way that represents our shared values – specifically protecting Medicare and Social Security — and ensuring that those who are struggling have the help they need to put food on the table, keep a roof over their head, and have hope for a job that can someday secure a better future for them and their family.

I think we can prioritize spending to protect our most vulnerable, while investing in those things that will increase our competitiveness, like education and infrastructure. I’ve come to the realization, however, that the People deserve the right to rein in Congress’s insatiable desire to spend.

That’s why I support passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment.

It will force politicians to do what they’ve not shown a willingness to do over time: stop borrowing money we don’t have.

I would have hoped that we could count on Members of Congress to simply do their job, but that has become wishful thinking. And, believe it or not, today marks the 950th day since the U.S. Senate passed a budget.

Members of Congress, apparently unconcerned with the uncertainty throughout the nation, would rather just avoid making any difficult decisions and just spend as they go. This unwillingness to perform the basic function of government is having real-world implications around the country as businesses concerned about the future hoard cash and families watch their retirement funds dissolve.

However, as we consider how and when a Balanced Budget Amendment could be passed, we must recognize that it would be impossible to implement immediately for two reasons.

First, our budget is simply too out of whack. A Constitutional mandate to balance our books in this recessionary period would require severe tax hikes and dramatic cuts in services and our national defense. But, with a Balanced Budget Amendment phased in over time, we’d be able to bring certainty to markets while growing the economy and reining in spending. And, in turn, we’d return confidence to America, in our government, and just as importantly, in our leadership.

The second reason passing a Balanced Budget Amendment would take time is that we would need to wait on the states to go through the long and arduous process of ratifying the Amendment. I believe strongly that the people should have the right to determine whether this is a policy they want, but they’ll never get that chance until Congress gives it to them.

In conclusion, creating a simple, predictable, and fair tax code…. helping Oregon workers export their goods and services to the world….balancing the federal budget. These are the pillars of economic growth and job creation and would serve as my focus if elected.

I admit, I am not your typical candidate. I am not a political insider. I have not worked my way up through the system, nor have others been hoisting me up the political career ladder. So, if you think the problem in Congress is that we don’t have enough politicians or lawyers, then I guess you should support my opponent.

But, if you think it’s time to elect someone in the First District who knows what it takes to create jobs, solve problems, and will work with anyone who’s ready to reason – regardless of party – then I am your candidate, and today I ask for your support and the commitment of your vote.