Job Killer on the Loose!

Mike Rogers really enjoys talking about "defending" small business from the "job-killing" actions taken by the oogey-boogey Democrats:

• "Health Bill's Taxes, Regulations [sic] Kills Jobs"
• "EPA 'Cap and Trade' Regulations are Job-Killers"
• "Job Killer Health Bill By-the-Numbers"
• and, of course, the tanning tax that "kills jobs, hurts women and college students."

Leaving aside the healthy dose of hyperbole -- and the fact that Michigan has lost roughly 860,000 jobs since Mr. Rogers first went to Washington in 2000 -- you'd think that he would be willing to support a bill that supports small business.

Well, you'd be wrong.

Mr. Rogers voted AGAINST the Small Business Lending Funding Act of 2010 (H.R. 539).

The House concurred in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5297, to create the Small Business Lending Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make capital investments in eligible institutions in order to increase the availability of credit for small businesses and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for small business job creation, by a yea-and-nay vote of 237 yeas to 187 nays, Roll No. 539. [emphasis added]

While it's a safe bet that Mr. Rogers will come up with some emotion-filled excuse for saying no, the fact is that America's small businesses in a tough situation.

At a Federal Reserve meeting in July 2010, Fed Governor Elizabeth A. Duke discussed the importance of support for small business in a larger context:

Finding solutions to small business financing issues is not only an important component of the economic recovery, it is also important to the restoration of communities that have been hard-hit by foreclosures and job losses.

In other words, when small businesses get a little help with financing, they can hire more people.

When you see Mr. Rogers,* be sure to ask him why he voted against small business owners and private sector job creation.

*Just kidding! You won't be seeing Mr. Rogers in the district this fall unless you pay for the privilege. He's too busy to talk to actual voters... or his opponent, Lance Enderle.

Do's and Don'ts

As we get closer to election time (six weeks from today!), it's worth remembering what Mr. Rogers has -- and hasn't -- been doing in Washington.

On the "Do" side, Mike Rogers has been:

• enjoying breakfast, lunch, happy hours and 80s nights,
• working hard to help GOP incumbents keep their jobs,
• hosting a "safer, friendlier and more balanced" video game night,
• writing nice letters to Tom Izzo,
• appearing on TeeVee multiple times, and
• standing up for the tanning salon industry.

On the "Don't" side, Mike Rogers said no to

• extending unemployment benefits,
• children's health insurance (for the fifth time),
• the stimulus bill (after he added $17.6 million to it),
• increasing available credit for small businesses, and
• allowing the FDA to restrict tobacco sales to minors.

Seems to me that Mr. Rogers has been in Washington a little too long -- after ten years, he thinks his job is to represent special interests instead of Michigan interests.

Want a representative who will actually represent us?

Vote for Lance Enderle on November 2nd.