Delaware Democratic Party

The American economy is continuing to recover, with private enterprise adding 172,000 jobs in July. We have now seen private sector job growth for the past 29 consecutive months, with a total of 4.5 million new jobs added since 2009.

However, with many Americans still unemployed or underemployed, it is clear that more needs to be done. President Obama has already moved to pass a new jobs bill and to extend tax cuts for the middle class. Unfortunately, both initiatives have been blocked by Republicans in Congress, who earlier this week also voted to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

If Mitt Romney is elected in November, he will continue this policy of blocking aid to those who need it most. His tax plan would raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for a tax cut for the highest earners (including Romney himself). And he has embraced Paul Ryan’s budget, which would make massive cuts to infrastructure, education, and programs for low-income groups. These cuts would jeopardize the fragile economy, which is still recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. And these cuts would impose a further burden on our already struggling hard-working Americans.

We have seen this plan before. Despite Romney’s protests, he has been unable to name a single real difference between his plan and the economic policies of George W. Bush. No independent analyst believes that cutting high-income taxes and cutting spending will reduce the deficit or create jobs in the near term, and the country can’t afford to go back to the policies that caused the recession in the first place.

That is why Congress needs to extend the current tax cuts for income below $250,000, and to pass President Obama’s jobs bill as soon as possible. With millions of hardworking families still struggling, now is not the time to raise their taxes and cut critical investments just to pay for yet another tax cut for the most successful Americans.