CHICAGO -- U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) addressed restaurant and foodservice professionals attending the 2008 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago on Monday. "Considering that both of my prospective opponents call this city their home town, I've received a very warm welcome here," the Republican presidential candidate began. "Many Democratic voters in Illinois are especially proud of their junior senator. They believe more than ever that Barack Obama was the right choice for the Senate in 2004. I couldn't agree more, and I promise to do everything in [image-nocss] my power to help him finish his first term in the United States Senate."
Turning quickly to issues, he said, "Whoever wins the nomination of the Democratic Party, that candidate and I have some serious debates ahead of us. Some of our sharpest disagreements concern the American economy and how best to help American workers. On tax policy, health-care reform, trade, government spending, and a long list of other issues, we offer very different choices to the American people….
"And now the real debate can begin about how to promote a strong and growing economy—an economy that creates jobs, increases wages, and helps American workers to compete with rivals in any market in the world. You in the restaurant and hospitality industry know a thing or two about competition and job creation. You and entrepreneurs like you have created 13 million of them, and in a strong economy your industry would likely create another two million jobs over the next decade. But many of those new plans and new jobs will depend on the choices we make in Washington. And the reality is that my opponents and I would choose very different policies, with very different consequences for American workers."
McCain said that the Democratic nominee—whether it be Obama or Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), "will allow many of the current low tax rates to expire, effectively imposing, overnight, a tax increase of more than a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. In other words, while your industry is planning to create two million jobs over the next decade, they're planning to tax Americans by another trillion dollars or more. But your plans for growth and their plan for taxes are going to be hard to square, because you can't raise taxes by a trillion dollars without hurting American workers. That's true in your industry and in every other. And that is why I propose to follow a different course. As president, I will keep the current low tax rates, and I will leave that trillion dollars and more with the millions of Americans who earned it."
He went on to discuss his domestic plans to double the size of the child tax exemption, to phase out the Alternative Minimum Tax, to offer America an alternative tax system, to offer every individual and family a tax credit to buy health care, to keep the low rate on capital gains, and more. He also discussed his plans to help American companies compete in the world economy.
Click hereto view the full prepared text of McCain's speech.
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