Rather than approve a full year extension of the payroll tax cut – a plan I support – President Obama and House Democrats are demanding a short, two month extension.

It is painfully obvious that the President has never run a business. If he had any private sector experience, he would know that America’s businesses aren’t run on short term political ruses. But that’s exactly what President Obama is trying to give them in the form of a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.

At this time of year and in this economic climate, we need to be providing certainty to American workers and our job creators. These two month extensions are just kicking the can down the road and they have to stop now.

That’s why I’m supporting a full year extension of the payroll tax cuts – so our businesses and workers will have the certainty they need to plan for another year.

And what is the response from Washington liberals to my support of pro-jobs tax cuts?

They are unleashing James Carville and DCCC Chairman Israel to attack me because they don’t have the courage themselves to support a full year extension. We have said it all along – these Washington Liberals will do or say anything to try to defeat me and return the Speaker’s gavel to Nancy Pelosi.

Will you donate right now to help me fight back against Washington Liberals? My campaign needs to raise $25,000 by the end of this quarter in order to answer their relentless attacks and show Americans that I’m not afraid of making tough decisions. 

President Obama and House Democrats would rather play politics than pass meaningful measures that will help our small businesses and actually create jobs.

America doesn’t need leaders who will only make decisions two months at a time. Will you donate to my campaign right now and help me fight back against their attacks?

As always, thank you for your support!

Lately the President seems more interested in appeasing his left-wing donors than promoting economic recovery. Let’s review.

First, the president cow-towed to the left-wing base of the Democratic Party by blocking access to permits to drill off the Gulf Coast.

Then, the Obama Administration’s National Labor Relations Board blocked Boeing from creating thousands of new jobs in Charleston because his union friends don’t live there and South Carolinians value the right to work.

Now President Obama is bowing to those environmentalists again by blocking development of the Keystone Pipeline. This project would bring over a million barrels of friendly oil from Canada to our country everyday and employ thousands of Americans in the process. The President’s own administration has reported that the Keystone Pipeline does not pose a significant environmental threat. But President Obama is putting off the decision until 2013 – after he gets those important campaign checks from his donors.

President Obama cannot have it both ways. He cannot decry the shrinking middle class and then turn around and block the very jobs that would employ middle class Americans and reinvigorate the national economy.

Because he is choosing to vote “present” on the Keystone Pipeline, over 200 steelworkers who were working on the Keystone Pipeline project will now be laid off the week before Christmas.

That’s 200 jobs lost because the President is choosing extreme environmentalists over the middle class he claims to support. President Obama needs to understand that there are consequences to his actions. When he blocks economic development in favor of his left-wing friends, Americans lose jobs.

This is not leadership. The President cannot continue to advocate for new jobs and economic recovery while blocking private sector initiatives that will actually get Americans back to work and promote an economic recovery.

I need your help to tell the President and Washington Liberals that they are wrong once again.  We have a winning fight but it is going to be difficult when we are battling the President, Harry Reid, AND the liberal media.  Help me raise the money I need to get out my message of strong conservatism as the way to restore America.  Every dollar I raise will go toward proving my ability to fight through another difficult election.

This bill will help rein in excessive regulations by requiring Congressional approval of any new regulation that would have an economic impact of $100 million or more. We can get businesses hiring and growing again, but not until we remove the regulatory burden they are currently fighting.

Our economy is at a standstill and unemployment is at its highest level in decades. Our children are graduating from high school and college without any jobs and moving back home for a new life of unemployment purgatory. The statistics speak for themselves. As of last month, just 74 percent of Americans ages 25 to 34 were working, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report also shows that 14.2 percent of young adults are living with their parents, up from 11.8 percent in 2007.

The back end of this jobs cycle is having the same impact. Last week it was reported that 25 percent of Americans do not think they will be able to retire until age 80. Older workers have seen their retirement savings and investments dried up as a result of the great recession and are staying put in their jobs for fear of insolvency. The jobs that do exist are being held hostage by fear, risk and submission.

Parents are beginning to look at their children and wonder if the American Dream is dying. With deadlines for thousands of dollars in student loan debt creeping up, their children are moving back home, desperate for a job – any job. This is not the America I have always known. We can and must do better.

Read the entire op-ed here.

Boeing, an American company, decided to expand its operations from Washington to South Carolina. South Carolina, like North Carolina, is a right to work state where employees don’t have to unionize to earn a living. President Obama’s friends weren’t happy that Boeing was moving to the non-union South and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint with Boeing, demanding that Boeing move the jobs elsewhere – after they had already build their plant.

This is not the American tradition. America was founded to promote liberty and give citizens the freedom to determine their own destiny, not punish job creators and pick winners and losers.

That’s why I voted last week for the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, a bill that will protect America’s job creators from an overreaching federal government and eliminate the punitive remedy that the NLRB is currently seeking against Boeing in South Carolina.

North Carolina has a long and proud tradition as a state where workers are free to work without the pressure of unionizing. I voted for the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act to help preserve our right to work tradition here in the South and protect North Carolina companies from the same kind of overreaching government power that has affected our neighbors in South Carolina.

The June unemployment report – 9.2% – confirmed what we already knew. President Obama’s policies are bad for business.

In fact, since the President’s failed stimulus passed in February of 2009, the economy has shed 1.8 million jobs. And, to make matters worse, the White House reported last week that the stimulus program cost $278,000 per job created or saved!

This is not sound economic policy. This is not a jobs plan.

And unfortunately, the President’s lack of leadership on jobs and the economy is hitting us hard here in North Carolina. WRAL reported this week that true unemployment in North Carolina is likely around 17.5%, which is the 9th highest in the U.S.

I believe that until we change course in Washington we cannot get back on a path to creating a business-friendly economy.

While the President and Democrats continue to try to spend, spend, spend, we are working hard in the House to remove the uncertainties that high taxes, high national debt, and ever-increasing regulations place on our small businesses.

And we belive that removing those uncertainties and restraints on your business starts with listening to you. Visit Americanjobcreators.com and take a moment to tell us what’s holding your business back. Is it too much paperwork, uncertainty over Obamacare and taxes, too many restrictive regulations?

My friends in the House and I know that to create jobs, government must get out of the way and allow our nation’s small businesses to do what they do best: innovate and grow the economy. Go to Americanjobcreators.com and tell us how we can get government out of your way. Then consider sharing your story on my Facebook Page.

Watch the whole video from that exchange here on Townhall.com.

During the debate Congressman Etheridge (as he has done throughout the campaign) promised voters he shares their values and concerns – but then dodged explaining why he has voted with President Obama and Nancy Pelosi 97% of the time in Congress.

He also dodged defending the ad he is running against me – which even the News & Observer says is inaccurate and misleading. And he dodged explaining why he’s voted for over a trillion dollars of Obama’s tax increases.

Campaigning in North Carolina ‘NC Bob’ Etheridge talks the talk he thinks voters want to hear. He says he shares our values. Supports a balanced budget. Wants to cut spending. But in Washington ‘DC Bob’ doesn’t walk the walk. ‘DC Bob’ voted for the Obama bailouts, Obama stimulus bills and Obama’s trillion dollar deficit.

Watch the debate above or [click here] to view it at WTVD.com.

Help me combat Bob Etheridge’s misleading negative attacks by contributing whatever you can now.  Your contribution will help me get the word out and set the record straight.

When he went to Washington, Congressman Etheridge was against the death tax.  He said, “One of the largest obstacles to staying in business for families is Federal Estate taxes or death taxes. Before a family has even had the opportunity to properly mourn the passing of a loved one they must begin to face the task of settling the estate. Often a family must endure two deaths; the death of a loved one followed by the death of a business… People labor too long and hard throughout their lives to see the fruits of their work disappear into Uncle Sam’s pockets.” (Congressional Record, 6/10/97)

In his 2000 reelection campaign, Congressman Etheridge bragged about voting to repeal the death tax (News and Observer 10/24/00).

But after more than a decade in Washington, Congressman Etheridge now believes the money you worked to save over your lifetime or the business you built should be taxed when you die — last year, Congressman Etheridge voted to impose a 45% death tax.

And next year, thanks to the fact that Congressman Etheridge voted to adjourn Congress without addressing an automatic death tax increase scheduled for January 1, we will face a 55% death tax.

Right now, Bob Etheridge is running a tv ad claiming – falsely — I want to raise taxes.  This ad says, “You do everything right.  Work hard. Take responsibility. Pass it on to the next generation.”  But Bob Etheridge just voted to impose a 45% death tax and failed to stop an automatic 55% death tax scheduled for January 1 — making it impossible for many North Carolinians to “pass it on to the next generation.”

So how could Congressman Etheridge go from being dead set against taxing estates when he was first elected to supporting a 55% death tax? The answer is simple. He’s now part of the Washington establishment. When he went to Washington, Bob Etheridge was one of us. Now he is one of them.

Which means the death tax will keep killing jobs until we vote Congressman Etheridge out of Congress.

Here’s what happened: On January 1^st, every American income tax payer faces a tax increase. Millions of small businesses also face a tax increase and anyone who dies will have to pay a death tax of up to 55%.

All these tax increases are baked in the cake. They are on the books. Here’s the bottom line — according to independent number crunchers at the Tax Foundation, these tax increases will cost $1477 per middle class family in our district. In the middle of a recession. When families are struggling.

You might think Congress would cancel these huge tax increases – at least until the economy recovers. But this Pelosi Congress is tax crazy. When the Democratic leaders in the House moved to adjourn – without repealing the tax increase – a coalition of Republicans and Democrats said No and called for the House to stay in session and vote. They lost. By one vote.

By a vote of 210-209 Congress decided to quit, go home and adjourn — leaving a two thousand dollar tax increase in place.  And who cast the decisive vote to keep the automatic tax increase on track? Congressman Bob Etheridge.

Then he aired a new TV ad accusing me of wanting to raise taxes.

Bob Etheridge’s vote demonstrates how far he is from the mainstream.  Instead of joining thirty-nine of his fellow House Democrats who voted against adjournment so the tax issue could be settled before the recess, Etheridge once again voted with Nancy Pelosi.

In his fourteen years in Congress Bob Etheridge has voted for higher income tax rates, higher taxes on small business, marriage penalty taxes, against child tax credits and for higher taxes on dividends and capital gains.

Congressman Etheridge has voted to tax Social Security benefits and even tax unemployment benefits. Just last year, he voted for Obama’s eight hundred billion dollar national energy tax and six hundred billion in job killing taxes for Obamacare. And now he’s voted to adjourn Congress, leaving a $1477 tax increase staring working families in the face January 1^st.

I have signed a no tax increase pledge. Bob Etheridge has not. I would have voted to stop the tax increase. Bob Etheridge did not.