Johanns: Get government out of the way of growth

Washington’s efforts to create jobs won’t work, Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) said Saturday, and the Republican plan to spur growth is to get the government out of the way.

“The idea of government creating jobs, well, it simply misses the point entirely,” Johanns said in his party’s weekly address. “Job creation in this country doesn’t start with government; it starts with our businesses, especially our small businesses.”

{mosads}The Labor Department reported earlier this week that the unemployment rate is 8.8 percent. About 216,000 jobs were added to the economy in March, according to the Labor Department numbers.

The growing federal debt and growing regulation of business are hurting economic growth, the senator said.

“The current record-setting deficits and the $14 trillion plus in accumulated national debt are serious impediments to job creation because they have a ripple effect right to Main Street,” Johanns said. “Our debt threatens to devalue the dollar, which will lead to increased costs and interest rates, which has a chilling effect on small business growth.”

He also took President Obama and Democrats in Congress to task for new regulations.

“This administration has proposed or enacted more than 250 regulations amounting to more than $24 billion dollars in regulatory costs,” Johanns said. “That’s $24 billion dollars needed by small businesses across the country to hire new employees and to grow their businesses – it should not be funneled out of the economy or your communities and rerouted back to Washington to the government.”