House Majority Whip McCarthy: California's high speed rail project is a recipe for failure

 House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) provides us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his words:

 "It’s always hard running a small business and in today’s climate, it's even harder. I remember waking up early cutting up vegetables getting ready for the lunch time rush at Kevin O’s Deli and staying late to finish payroll and close up. As you drive across town from the Marketplace to Rosedale Highway to downtown Bakersfield, you find many of our hometown small businesses. These entrepreneurs and their employees are the powerhouse of job creation in our local economy. Unfortunately, they’ll now endure more state and federal taxes along with higher premiums and regulations. The resurgence of the American economy and California economy depends on revival of small business growth, something some in Washington and Sacramento are forgetting.

  "This week I met with a group of small business owners who shared their challenges if the President raises their taxes. These tax increases would hit almost one million small businesses, cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and, according to the President’s own budget, supply enough annual revenue to keep the federal government open for only five days. I hear from local small business owners trying to figure out how to survive in today’s economy as health care premiums continue to rise, and over fifty cents out of every dollar earned could go toward paying just state and federal taxes. We cannot tax, spend, and borrow our way to prosperity. It will make it harder for small businesses to grow and create needed jobs for American families. In fact, when economists combined state, federal and, where applicable, local income taxes, plus payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, they found that the highest tax rate in California, which affects many small business owners, would hit 51.9%! This is not sustainable.

 "As we approach the fiscal cliff, Congress cannot ignore the spending side of the government ledger, and that’s why we must also carefully scrutinize all federal spending to reduce waste.  Few projects deserve more scrutiny than California’s high-speed rail project.  In my testimony this week at a congressional hearing about the viability of high-speed rail in California, I outlined our communities’ concerns with this project.  The ridership numbers don’t add up, private investment remains nonexistent, and meanwhile, the California High Speed Rail Authority continues to request more federal taxpayer dollars. This isn’t a recipe for success. The current high speed rail plan to be finished relies on another $38 billion from the federal government. As we work to reduce our debt, it is critical that we, as stewards of scarce taxpayer dollars, hold the California High Speed Rail Authority accountable for this billion-dollar project.

 "This week many recognized the birth of Winston Churchill and remembered what he said regarding taxes, “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” Churchill was right over a century ago and he’s right today. We must reform the tax code, cut spending and grow our economy.