A PLAN FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH & PROSPERITY

With a seemingly endless tide of federal regulations, persistent unemployment and stagnant job growth, and the passage of President Obamas costly health care law, the Obama Administration has little more than a weaker economy and stymied jobs creation to show for its efforts to get things back on track. A lack of confidence in the tax and regulatory environment going forward has bred an excess of uncertainty about the effects of federal policies, the opportunities for the private sector to create and sustain jobs, and the future stability of the U.S. economy. With the failed $787 billion stimulus plan doing little but growing the national debt, the Obama Administrations plan for moving forward is yet more spending in the form of its half a trillion dollar jobs legislation that fails to take meaningful steps to address the recent economic downturn. Both Arizonans today and the generations to come deserve a concrete and sustainable approach to stimulating the economy and facilitating the private sector creating jobs. With further details below, Jeff Flake supports moving forward with comprehensive tax reform, halting the Obama Administrations regulatory overreach, taking advantage of readymade economic opportunities, ensuring the U.S. economy has the best and the brightest, jumpstarting domestic energy development, and supporting free trade agreements and expanding exports. Moving Forward with Comprehensive Tax Reform The U.S. tax code, at 70,000 pages, is a drag on the economy that favors special interests and penalizes U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs. According to the Tax Foundation, Arizonans worked until April 10th of this year just to earn enough to pay off their total tax bill. High taxes kill jobs and reduce savings. With the highest corporate tax rate in the world, corporate tax rates have to be lowered if the U.S. has any hope of retaining major manufacturers and convincing new businesses to form in this country. Lowering corporate taxes will have a major impact on job creation as well as reducing the costs of goods and services that Arizonans buy every day. Pro-growth tax reform that stops looming tax hikes, scraps our confusing tax code, and lowers rates for families and businesses will keep the U.S. competitive and provide a much-needed boost to the economy. Jeff Flake supports comprehensive tax reform that would streamline the tax code by eliminating various tax loopholes, expand the base, and lower the rates. The U.S. tax code should be reformed to one typified by its fairness, simplicity, and competitiveness and the U.S. economy would benefit accordingly. Halting the Obama Administrations Regulatory Overreach Whether its locking up a million acres in northern Arizona to new mining claims, requiring countless hours from state and local government to get off the hook for dust storms they cant prevent or control, threatening to require unnecessary pollution controls on the Navajo Generating Station that could shut it down and hike water rates across the state, meddling in the financial sector with rulemaking after rulemaking, expanding federal jurisdiction over water of the U.S. to include just about everything, or exposing Arizonas hotel industry to lawsuits for failing to have permanent wheelchair lifts for every pool and spa, Arizonas economy has been under the crushing thumb of the Obama Administrations persistent and apparently limitless regulatory overreaching. It is impossible to simultaneously expect the private sector and small businesses to create jobs while also pursuing one of the most aggressive regulatory agendas in generations. Arizonans need regulatory relief, not regulatory certainty. Jeff Flake supports calling a halt to, and placing a moratorium on, the Obama Administrations seemingly unending appetite for job-stifling regulation. Taking Advantage of Readymade Economic Opportunities Positive steps toward getting the U.S. economy back on track can be as simple as taking advantage of readymade opportunities for economic activity and jobs growth. For example, embedded beneath 3,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service-managed land near Superior, Arizona is one of the largest deposits of high-grade copper ore in North America. Since 2002, the Resolution Copper Company has sought a congressionally-approved land swap that would create 1,400 direct jobs and 2,300 indirect jobs throughout the mines 40 year life and result in an estimated $61 billion in economic impact to the state of Arizona.

The House passed the latest iteration of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act (H.R. 1904) in which the company would trade over 5,300 acres of environmentally sensitive Arizona land for the ore rich 2,400 acre parcel managed by the federal government in 2011. Incomprehensibly, the Obama Administration opposes this legislation and Senate Democrats have been unwilling to take it up. Jeff Flake has been a consistent support of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act and allowing the Superior copper extraction project to move forward and create an economic boon for Arizona.

Ensuring the U.S. Economy Has the Best and the Brightest Through the companies they start, the employees they hire, the patents they file, and the products they bring to market, high-skilled immigrants have been a key to U.S. job creation and economic activity. Sadly, our current approach to legal immigration hampers our ability to retain foreign-born talent. This is particularly acute when it comes to foreign-born students receiving advanced degrees from U.S. universities in the critical fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Unable to stay in the U.S. after graduation, the foreign-born STEM graduates from U.S. schools often end up benefiting the economies of India and China. The least the federal government should do is ensure that it doesnt actually create hurdles that would prevent U.S. industry from attracting and retaining the best and the brightest from around the globe. With agreement from across the ideological spectrum, Jeff Flake has been the leading voice for reforming the current approach to legal immigration so that foreign-born STEM talent educated at U.S. universities remain and ensure that the U.S economy stays on the cutting edge of global competitiveness and innovation. Jumpstarting Domestic Energy Development A pro-growth and market driven approach to domestic energy development will reduce dependence on foreign sources, lower the cost of fuel here at home, and sustain American jobs. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration appears determined to have taxpayers endlessly fund their flawed go-green or go-bust policy risking skyrocketing utility and fuel costs, massive job losses, and costly Solyndra-like failures. Specifically, Arizona finds itself a target in the EPAs relentless War on Coal. Overriding the states authority, EPA is moving forward with a regional haze federal implementation plan that will mandate hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary upgrades to Arizonas power plants that will little to increase visibility. Jeff Flake will continue to lead the fight to reassert the State of Arizona as the primary authority when it comes to regional haze and ensure that countless jobs wont be lost and Arizona families wont be left to pay for higher utility bills because of EPAs folly. Jeff Flake also supports a responsible, comprehensive domestic energy policy that includes on-and-offshore drilling, expanded exploration, and a regulatory environment that fosters development of both traditional energy resources and renewable technologies instead of picking winners and losers. Supporting Free Trade Agreements & Expanding Exports With the U.S. being the worlds largest economy and one of the largest importers and exporters of goods and services, it is difficult to overstate the importance of trade as an engine for economic growth. According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, every billion dollars of goods and services exports supported more than an estimated 5,000 jobs last year. Focusing on the southern border, Mexico is the third largest U.S. trading partner and the second largest U.S. export market, with a reported six million U.S. jobs depending on trade with Mexico and an estimated $26 billion in import and export across the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona. Given the significance of exports on the U.S. gross domestic product and the potential for economic growth as well as the potential to facilitate job creation, ensuring a tax and regulatory environment that attracts international businesses and expanding opportunities for trade with the U.S. are all the more critical during these tough economic times. Jeff Flake will continue to oppose inappropriate executive and congressional meddling that can hamper economic growth in the U.S., work to ensure U.S. policy complies with our international trade commitments, and remain a rock solid and consistent advocate for free trade, trade liberalization, and efforts to reduce international barriers to trade.

Paid for by Jeff Flake for U.S. Senate, Inc.