June 17th marks the one year anniversary of what President Obama called the ‘Recovery Summer.’

That summer, just a year ago, was when everything was predicted to begin turning around for the better.  The economy was going to improve because Congress passed $1.6 trillion in stimulus spending and jobs would be plentiful.

Yet, all of us across East Alabama are still waiting for that recovery to come. Today the United States sits at over $14 trillion in debt, and has an economy that simply hasn’t kicked in.

Our country has suffered through 28 consecutive months of unemployment over 8 percent with unemployment now at 9.1 percent – the highest since December 2010.

This is unacceptable.

Congress needs to do more to help get our economy moving. For starters, besides cutting spending so the United States isn’t borrowing over 40 cents on each dollar it spends, Congress must act to help the private sector thrive, which helps businesses create good paying jobs.

This week, President Obama’s Jobs and Competitiveness Council presented a report on their last 90 days of working to develop ideas to get our country’s economy back on track.

Getting the input from the business community is a step in the right direction. But more aggressive steps must be taken to help on the jobs front.

How about tax reform? Hard working families just survived another run-in with our creaky, inefficient tax code on April 15. Let’s give families and small businesses a boost by flattening rates and reducing the paperwork burden.

Small businesses are still unable to obtain loans. Let’s tell the Obama Administration to stop blaming Main Street’s community banks for our financial mess. These small town businesses support our job creators, and it’s up to Congress to tell the Feds to get out of their way.

How about cutting excess regulations? Many small business owners across East Alabama have told me government red tape is hurting their businesses. Let’s cut unnecessary regulations to help the private sector create jobs and keep the ones we have at home.

Many small business owners across East Alabama have participated in America’s Job Creators survey, and if you haven’t, I urge you to go to my website at http://mike-rogers.house.gov and click the America’s Job Creators box to share your concerns with me.  I want to hear from you.

America faces many trials right now, but we are a resilient nation and people know we will make it through these hardships.

I hope Congress and President Obama will work together to make our economy its number one priority.

As always, feel free to contact me on this or any issue at  www.mike-rogers.house.gov, become a fan on Facebook at Congressman Mike D. Rogers, follow me on Twitter at RepMikeRogersAL and subscribe to my YouTube page at MikeRogersAL03.

                                                                          -###-