Gibbs has 3-step Rx for ailing economy

NEW PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, believes that reducing the nation’s deficit, balancing the budget and instituting common-sense regulatory reforms are the keys to fixing America’s troubled economy.

“The regulatory climate in this country, fix it,” Gibbs said. “I think we’ve got to get the spending under control, get on the right track by reducing these deficits and a balanced budget. We need a balanced budget, not a balanced approach, some people say. And we need common-sense regulatory reform along with some tax reform to make sure that it’s equitable, everybody’s paying their fair share and the rates are low as possible.

“I think the good news is you’ll see this economy take off. There’s so much pent-up demand, but the uncertainty has caused a complete erosion of confidence, and businesses and consumers are afraid to make investments.”

The Republican congressman sat down Tuesday for a 30-minute interview with The Times-Reporter’s editorial board, discussing a wide range of topics such as the nation’s economy, the region’s oil and gas boom and preserving historic Zoar Village.

Gibbs serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well as the Agriculture Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gibbs said business owners and consumers are worried about the future. He blames this on overspending by the Obama administration and passage of new entitlement programs such as the federal health care reform law, which he termed “Obamacare.”

“What’s frustrating to me is that all this angst and challenges we’re having right now – people not being able to find a job and stress – didn’t have to happen,” he said. “It’s not like there was a natural disaster or, heaven forbid, an attack again on the homeland. It’s all the result of – in my opinion – bad public policy and practices from Washington, D.C.”

Gibbs advocates lowering the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent – which he said is the highest in the world – to 25 percent. He also favors reining in government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, which he said is “way out of control.”

“I’m convinced that if you could do what I said, the federal government would quit spending all this money we don’t have, and get the bureaucracy and red-tape cut on the regulatory side, I think you’d really see the economy take off,” Gibbs said.

While he said he thinks both Democrats and Republicans are at fault to some extent for the nation’s current fiscal situation, he believes the Obama administration needs to take ownership of the problem and not blame the Bush administration.

“I know when Nancy Pelosi took over as speaker in 2006, the annual federal deficit was $161 billion,” he said. “The monthly federal deficit this year in February was $220 some billion in 28 days, which was more in 28 days than a whole year in 2005 or 2006. When George Bush left office in 2008, the deficit was about $450 billion or $460 billion, somewhere in there. Now we’re running deficits of $1.4 trillion to $1.6 trillion. I don’t think you can blame all the policies (of the Bush administration). At some point, the new administration has to take ownership.”

Gibbs said he is pleased with the oil and gas boom that has hit eastern Ohio. “It’s moving fast and I’m excited about it,” he said.

He noted that the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 165 last year, strengthening regulations of the industry in Ohio. Since the right regulations are in place, Gibbs said, the state can safely develop those resources.

He predicted that the economic benefits that oil and gas drilling will bring to the region could last for a long time, perhaps 20 years.

The congressman also said he has been in discussions with officials from the Army Corps of Engineers about repairing the Zoar Levee.

The Corps is currently in the midst of an 18-month study to determine what should be done about the levee, which is at risk of failure. The agency has three options – repair the levee, demolish Zoar and allow the area to flood or move the historic village to higher ground. A decision is expected by September 2012.

Gibbs said he doesn’t favor the last two options.

“I think I’ve pretty much between the lines told them that I don’t think those two options are worthwhile,” he said. “I said, ‘Can we fix the levee?’ Personally, I think the decision was made back whenever they did the levee, in the ’20s and ’30s. That decision was made to protect Zoar then. So I think the decision was pretty much made long before us.”