Rick Perry says no stimulus when he's president
At a campaign stop in Tulsa on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said that as president, he wouldn't use government spending to spur economic growth or job creation.
"No. 1 is don't spend all the money, you can figure out what that means," Perry said when asked how he would create jobs, the Associated Press reports. "You won't have stimulus programs under a Perry presidency. You won't spend all the money."
Perry gave few details about what he would do, according to the AP, but said he would ensure taxes would be "light on job creators" and that he would implement tort reform to make the legal system more predictable.
Perry was at the Tulsa Press Club to receive Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe's endorsement. The Texas governor also attended a $2,500-a-plate fundraising lunch in Tulsa.
Since entering the GOP presidential race just two weeks ago, Perry has surged to the top of the field, polls show.
While his jobs agenda may have been light on details in Tulsa, one of the most compelling arguments for Perry's candidacy is the job growth that's taken place in Texas under his watch. With Perry as governor, the state has added hundreds of thousands more jobs than any other state by far.
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Some job creators credit Perry's policies for making the state friendly to employers, CBS Evening News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reported, but the state also benefitted when high oil prices boosted energy-related jobs. Furthermore, the Texas unemployment rate still sits at 8.2 percent -- just a point below the national rate.
President Obama has been under pressure to do something to lower the 9-point unemployment rate and will lay out a plan for job creation in a speech next week. He's expected to call for some spending in areas like infrastructure development, and he's also expected to endorse new tax incentives to spur hiring.
While Perry says keeping taxes light should help spur economic growth, his promise to never raise taxes created some problems this year when his state faced a $27 billion budget shortfall. The governor had to make deep cuts in health care and education, laying off about 49,000 teachers.
