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Congressman briefs Covites on tax plan, sequestration, addresses local concerns

August 14, 2015

The Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation board hosted Texas District 25 U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin, on Aug. 7 at the EDC building to brief Cove residents on his tax reform plan called Jumpstart America.

The congressman spoke to a crowd of about 50 residents for about 20 minutes on what he is trying to accomplish for the district on Capitol Hill, to include cutting taxes and eliminating the sequestration law he considers is harming the military, before opening the floor to questions.

"I'm a business guy. I'm unique in Congress somewhat, because I still own a business, still employ people, still fighting regulations, still fighting big government — all the things that you do every day and I think that gives me a better insight on what everybody is going through every morning when they get up and try to fight this bureaucracy and what I feel is a socialistic agenda from this administration," Williams said. "I'm a business man and a rancher, and I love to tell people about the district I represent, which goes all the way from Tarrant County into Hays County. Thirteen counties, 710,000 people; It's probably about as diverse a district as anywhere in the country, and I'm proud to represent it."

Williams added that when he originally ran for office his platform was not only simple, but one he continues to abide by for the people of the district; lower taxes, less government, cut spending, defend the borders, listen to generals, understand the 10th Amendment (which reserves power to the states not specifically granted to the federal government) and to always stand with Israel.

"Everybody always tells me, ‘You're making a lot of important decisions up there, congressman.' And I tell them, none more important than moms, dads and business owners have to make with the regulations we're fighting," he said. "Since my first day (in Washington), I've tried to stick with certain business decision principles, and that's the Constitution as it is written, not as it is proposed to be.

"I'm listening to the people of this district — a lot of you sitting here right now have received calls from me at midnight; Where should I be? What do you think? And you've been graceful enough to talk to me."

Jumpstart America, the tax reform Williams has proposed to Congress, includes initiatives such as cutting personal tax brackets to 20 and 30 percent to allow Americans to keep more of their money; lowering the corporate tax rate to 20 percent to encourage investment, job creation and repatriating company earnings currently held abroad; cutting payroll tax an additional 2 percent; and dropping capital gains and dividends tax to at least 15 percent or getting rid of it entirely and eliminating the inheritance tax.

"We've got to get people to work. We have an economy that is not good right now, in spite of what the president might say," he said. "Wall Street is probably doing pretty good, but I'm not Wall Street, I'm main street, and I can tell you it's tough.

"You have 47 million people on food stamps right now, 48 million people between the ages of 18 and 64 that is the heart of our workforce that hasn't worked a single day in the last 12 months," he added. "You have 15 percent total poverty this morning in America. You can go on the streets anywhere in America and 75 percent of the people will tell you they are living paycheck to paycheck. We've got to fix the economy and we've got to put people back to work again."

One of the subjects he talked about was the current deal with Iran, which he said wasn't really a deal and was more like "(Neville) Chamberlain all over again," referring to the 1938 Munich agreement appeasing Hitler and beginning World War II.

"The idea (Congress) would pass this to create a personal legacy is beyond my belief. I don't believe it will pass the house, and after (Sen. Chuck) Schumer, D-N.Y.) coming out saying he doesn't like it, I don't think it will pass the senate," Williams said. "But the president says he'll veto it — veto what the people say, veto what Congress has to say, and I think if that happens we'll have to fight to override the veto. It lets Iran become a nuclear power, have nuclear capabilities that can literally destroy Israel and America and we can't let that happen."
The military is also under attack due to sequestration, he added.

"The military is being hobbled out like we've never seen before. You all know the numbers — a million-man Army several years ago and now we're heading to a 400,000-man Army. Seven thousand tanks down to 2,000 tanks. A trillion dollars in budget cuts we've had the military take and they've done it the last six years, but yet we still want to pass out the free cellphones, we still want to send paychecks to dead people on Social Security and it goes on and on and on," he said. "We've got to get the military out of sequestration. It's what put the military in this bind. It's hard to believe we still try to print a budget with sequestration cutting the military budget back, so we're going to be fighting every single day for the United States military.

"Not only for those who are in the military, but for those of you who are out of the military. The way we are treating our enlisted people right now in America is a tragedy, and the way we're treating our veterans is a tragedy. We need to stop it. The world will not survive unless the United States has the dominant military presence."

When asked about recent news items such as sanctuary cities and illegal immigration, Williams was dead-set against allowing funds to go to those who did not go through the legal process to enter the country.

"We shouldn't have them," he said of sanctuary cities. "We are a land of laws. America is a welcoming nation and we are all immigrants if we look at our history. But let's do it legally. We do need to secure our borders. If it's not the person coming over here to get a job, it's the terrorist coming over here to kill us. At the same time, we don't need sanctuary cities; we don't need to give anyone amnesty and English should be the official language."

Among many other questions was the purpose of allowing federal employees who are paid by taxpayer money to become unionized.

"I believe in signing a law that makes America a ‘right to work' country," he said. "The unions are losing a lot of ground and their last gasp is federal employees. It's a problem in our country. They get paid by us, and then they pay dues from what we pay them to the unions. And the unions can be heavy-handed, so I think the nation should be right-to-work the way we are in Texas."