In 2011, I Willl…

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As a Member of Congress, my New Year’s Resolution is to continue working to get our economy moving again, create jobs, and put our fiscal house in order.

In the past two years, almost three million Americans have lost their jobs.  The national unemployment rate is almost 10 percent and the average person’s stay on unemployment – about 25 weeks – is more than twice as high than at any point in the past 50 years.

To get our economy moving again, I pledge to fight for tax relief, smaller government, and repealing and replacing the government takeover of America’s health care system.

Growing the economy will also help reduce the budget deficit.  In just the past three years, the annual budget deficit has ballooned from about $150 billion to $1.3 trillion.  We need to work together in a bipartisan way to reduce government spending and balance the budget.

As a first step, we should roll back federal spending to Fiscal Year 2008 levels – a move that would save hundreds of billions per year.  In the long-term, we need a pair of amendments to the Constitution —one that would limit federal spending as a percentage of the U.S. economy and another that would require a balanced budget every year.

As the mom of two young children – including a baby girl who was born just a few weeks ago – I pledge to be a leader on these vital issues.

—U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers