Above: Sen. Shelby’s full remarks from today on the floor of the U.S. Senate

On Thursday, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, gave a wide-ranging speech on the Senate floor on jobs and the economy, during which he derided government spending, tax policy, over regulation and the fed’s monetary policy.

In his opening remarks, Shelby called out President Obama for taking a campaign-style approach to drawing attention away from his failed economic policies.

“President Obama is planning a PR blitz to gloss over his failed economic agenda,” Shelby said. “Over a series of speeches he will discuss his vision for the future, but he will offer nothing new… Mr. President, we need a fresh, free market approach to job creation. Stale Obama policy leftovers won’t cut it.”

Shelby noted the American economy’s lackluster growth and the public’s increasing dependence on government assistance under President Obama. Keying in on that specifically, he pointed out that deficit spending under the current administration is at the highest level it has ever been.

“The national public debt now stands at just under $17 trillion, an increase of nearly 60 percent under President Obama,” Shelby said. “What has been the result of this spending spree, Mr. President? Taxpayers got more debt, but job seekers didn’t get work.”

Shelby has recently advocated for a complete overhaul in the tax code. Earlier this year he proposed a bill that would throw out the current tax structure and replace it with a a 17 percent “flat tax.” He again hit on tax policy in his remarks today, specifically dialing in on the disproportionate amount of the tax burden carried by certain income earners.

“According to the most recent data from the IRS, the top one percent of taxpayers – those making $369,691 or more – pays 37.38 percent of all income taxes,” Shelby said. “The top 5 percent of taxpayers – those making $161,579 or more – pays 59.07 percent of all income taxes.  The top 10 percent of taxpayers – those making $116,623 or more – pays 70.62 percent of all income taxes. The top 25 percent of taxpayers – those making $69,126 or more – pays 87.11 percent of all income taxes.  And the top 50 percent of taxpayers – those making $34,388 or more – pays 97.64 percent of all income taxes. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent – those making $34,388 or less – pays 2.36 percent of all income taxes.”

The senior Alabama Republican senator bemoaned government regulation as a major deterrent to job creation. Shelby cited an analysis from the Competitive Enterprise Institute that estimated the total cost for Americans to comply with federal regulations reached $1.806 trillion in 2012.

He also criticized the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing policy, which in recent years has led to the institution hitting the $3 trillion mark on its balance sheet.

“To put the acceleration of the Fed’s balance sheet into perspective, it took 95 years from the Fed’s creation in 1913 to reach $1 trillion,” Shelby said. “The Fed then added the second trillion in just six weeks, followed by the third trillion this past January. Under the current quantitative easing program, the Fed’s balance sheet will reach four trillion dollars in less than six months. Where does it end? $5 trillion? $6 trillion? $10 trillion?”

Shelby concluded by arguing that restoring free market principles to America’s economy was the quickest way to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation.

“We face a serious confluence of economic challenges,” he said. “President Obama’s policies have not worked.  And they will not create work. Mr. President, real job creation is the result of entrepreneurship and innovation and risk in the free market. I believe that government’s role is to establish the conditions for that to occur. We can do this by stabilizing our nation’s finances, simplifying our tax code, and streamlining our regulatory framework. The more President Obama clings to the tired liberal ideology that more government is always the answer, the longer this jobs crisis will persist.”

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