Associated Builders and Contractors
President and CEO Kirk Pickerel said his group is a strong supporter of the “Pledge
to America” that U.S. House Republicans unveiled Thursday.
The pledge is a list of goals the
GOP will work toward if they are given control of the chamber following
November’s midterm elections. The include cutting federal spending, reducing taxes
and creating jobs.
“ABC
applauds the ‘Pledge to America’ agenda offered by House Republicans,” Pickerel
said. “Small businesses are the backbone of economic recovery and job creation
in America, and it is proposals like these that will get our economy back on
track and people back to work.”
Pickerel
said the U.S. government needs to change its current path and policies.
“Washington
recently has made it increasingly difficult for our free-market system to
flourish by failing to provide much needed tax relief while creating more
burdensome regulations and bureaucratic red tape,” he added. “Out-of-control
government spending and a cloud of uncertainty have played a major role in
slowing the economic recovery.”
A
number of polls have shown Republicans in position to make major gains in the
number of seats they control in Congress, and possibly retake the House after
losing it in 2006. Democrats currently have a 253-178 majority in the House. A
total of 218 seats are needed for a majority.
“ABC
believes the ‘Pledge to America’ includes the common-sense reforms and fiscal
responsibility that our economy and our nation desperately need,” Pickerel
said. “That is why ABC strongly supports this effort, and we look forward to
working with Congress to promote free enterprise, open competition and a less
intrusive government.”
