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Oklahoma Senate
Sen. Coffee Says Senate Dems Should Support Pro-Jobs Reforms
Senator Glenn Coffee
The state of Oklahoma was hit with more bad economic news last week as Delta Faucet announced that it plans to close its Chickasha plant later this year.
“How many jobs does Oklahoma have to lose before Democrats in the Oklahoma State Senate abandon their failed economic policies? When will Senate Democrats join Republicans in our efforts to pass pro-jobs economic reforms?” questioned Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.
Coffee said Senate Republicans want to make Oklahoma a “jobs-friendly” state by eliminating lawsuit abuse, reducing Oklahoma’s high income tax rate, eliminating the small-business-killing death tax, and building upon last year’s efforts to reform Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system.
In contrast, Senate Democrats have long fought these job-creating reforms because of their strong ties to trial lawyers, unions, and liberal interest groups that oppose these reforms.
“Senate Democrats have run this state for nearly one-hundred years – and their economic policies are costing jobs in Oklahoma. Their liberal policies have real consequences and have put our state near the bottom of just about every economic ranking in the nation. The time has come for the liberal Democrat leadership of the state Senate to take personal responsibility and to be held accountable for their failed economic policies,” Coffee said.
Coffee noted that Senate Democrats blocked meaningful lawsuit reform each of the past three years, and succeeded in watering down workers’ comp reform in 2005. Last year Senate Democrats had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” by Republicans to pass a modest four-tenths-of-one-percent reduction in the state’s high income tax rate. And Senate Democrat leaders have indicated they plan to block the elimination of state’s death tax – an unfair tax that often kills small businesses and family farms.
