Bill Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Well, I often ask my constituents, what is our number one job? What is the President's number one job? Is it to keep us safe, or is it to keep us free? And of course you get a number of different hands being raised. In my opinion, based on the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the President's--and therefore the Congress'--number one responsibility is to keep us free, because if we are not free, we will never be truly safe. And safety is obviously pretty close on the same level. And they play into one another. But our national defense, flowing down from our national security strategy, our national strategy, that's paramount.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Well, you hit the nail on the head again. National defense is our number one priority; it has to be. In fact, the oath of office that you and I took on January 5, virtually the same oath of office that the President takes, it says that we swore or affirmed to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. That requirement to provide for the national defense is the number one most important thing that we in the Congress, in the administration are required to do, keep America safe, keep America free, protect Americans and American interests around the world. There is no question that we must invest in those programs that are going to support our troops in the field. And I agree with you that we must look at the proper balance between defense spending and other spending to make sure that we achieve what we have been charged by the American people to do.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Because what happened was when people got a tax break on things that they had to have, they would channel those savings into buying things that they wanted to have and that they had been saving up for with their families. And other States started coming across the border to take advantage of that holiday. It's a simple concept that we need others to understand: when you let families and businesses keep more of their money and you put the decision about how they spend that money in their hands, America prospers.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Well, what it was, it eliminated sales tax on certain items like back-to-school items, things that people had to have to get their kids back in school, to put them in college and those kinds of things--clothing, school supplies, computers. For example, many States included computers in those sales tax holidays. Over the next year, they saw another nearly 5 percent increase in the overall sales tax revenues. By the third year, they saw a nearly 8 percent increase in sales tax revenues. And over a 3-year period, they were looking at close to 20 percent overall sales tax revenue increases over that 3-year period.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. That's right.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Well, you've made so many points there. I'm a businessman. After my military career, I founded two small businesses. Before I came to Congress, I was the chief information officer for a business, a global manufacturing company; and I sat at the table with our executive leadership team, and we talked about how do we increase the value to our shareholders; how do we make our company more profitable; how do we put ourselves in a position to be able to invest and grow. There are two sides to that formula. On one side, you've got spending. On the other side, you've got revenue. There is a balancing act. Controlling spending, we've talked about. We've got to stop the out-of-control spending here in Washington, and we're going to address that in this Congress. But how do we increase the revenue? That is what you've been talking about here for the last few minutes. And you're exactly right, it does not come through tax increases; it comes through letting Americans and businesses keep more of their money because that builds economic buying power, that builds confidence. They invest; they spend. Now when we did our research on the sales tax holiday back in 2009, what we learned is there were 17 States that had already implemented a sales tax holiday which validated the concept that you just referred to. Take one State, for example, implemented their sales tax holiday in the very first year. In the month that they implemented that sales tax holiday they saw an overall--now there were adversaries that said you can't take that sales tax revenue out of the coffer at a time when we are struggling to meet the State budget. Fortunately, sound minds prevailed and they were able to get the bill through. And in the month that they passed that bill and they had that sales tax holiday, their overall sales tax revenues did not decline; they went up nearly 5 percent.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Absolutely. Absolutely. And here is what puzzles me: I don't understand why more don't realize that when you let families and businesses keep more of their hard-earned money, that builds economic confidence. That builds buying power. They invest. They spend more. That's what gets an economy going. They begin to become innovative. Let me give you an example. Ohio borders on a State that has no sales tax on clothing. One of the first things I saw when I started looking at how I could help the State of Ohio was: How can we keep that sales tax revenue in the State of Ohio? So we started doing the research. We found out that 17 States have sales tax holiday programs. So I built a grassroots effort to put a sales tax holiday program in place in Ohio. Without going into excruciating detail, having a sales tax holiday around back-to-school time and a sales tax holiday around Christmastime promised to bring upwards of $250 million in additional sales tax revenue into the State coffer, keep retail jobs, and let Ohio families keep more of their money. It was amazing what that program would do. Yet we could not get those on the other side of the aisle in Ohio to understand that and to buy into that concept. It is a simple economic concept.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Thanks. You hit the nail on the head. We are punishing the job creators. I mentioned in Ohio, only three States have lost more jobs since that stimulus bill went into effect. Now, I don't know the exact number today, but in November, around election time, Ohio had lost over 400,000 jobs.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Absolutely.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. No, I was not. I built a grassroots effort to try to address that problem. We were successful in getting a bill introduced into the Ohio State Legislature to put those sales tax programs in place, but it never made it through the system.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Well, Mr. Speaker, and to my distinguished colleague from Missouri, thank you so very much for the opportunity to be here. You're exactly right, and you've pointed it out so well. We have a disease here in Washington, and that disease is called ``overspending.'' And it is, by and large, what has brought us economically to where we are today. And the debt that we see is the symptom of that disease. It's amazing to me how many in D.C., how many in the administration and in the previous Congress, really believe that we can borrow, tax, and spend our way back to prosperity. As a businessman, as a graduate from a business school--I have a minor in business administration--I don't think that there is a business theory in place that says that you can prosper that way.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, today we're debating the repeal of economically damaging legislation that punishes job creators and does nothing to control rising health care costs. We can't afford the $1.2 trillion price tag on the government takeover of health care while our national debt stands at $14 trillion. Today, we can right a serious wrong and still achieve the goals we share, like ensuring access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans; real health care reforms that control costs; and ensuring that Americans with preexisting conditions get the care they need at a price they can afford. In my district in eastern and southeastern Ohio, more than 26,000 senior citizens currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage are at risk of losing this program because of the $200 billion in cuts to Medicare required by this job-destroying health care law. Later today we will vote to repeal the government takeover giving us the opportunity to start over and enact real patient-focused health care reforms.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, while this is my first opportunity to address the House, it won't be my last. The people of eastern and southeastern Ohio sent me here to be their voice, and I intend to be that voice. On their behalf, I will speak out--loud and clear--on the issues that matter to the working people of my district. People sent me here for one primary reason: They think Congress has lost its way. And my constituents gave me a map they want us to use to get back on the right path. It's a simple map, drawn in bold, unmistakable strokes. Americans want us to be true to our founding principles, and the roads are open for all. But there are no shortcuts for special interests. But, most of all, this roadmap was made in America and paid for upfront. That's how our spending must be. We owe it to taxpayers to disclose what our votes will cost and be clear about how they're paid for. And, finally, Mr. Speaker, the map my citizens gave me leads in one very clear direction--toward economic recovery for every American. That's the way I'm headed. And I will cast my votes here with that in mind.

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Section 3: ``He shall from time to time give the Congress information of the state of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them.''