Posted on 02/08/2009 7:48:01 PM PST by GVnana
McConnell Statement on Proposed $820 Billion Spending Bill
But as near as we can tell, even after those efforts, it is roughly the same size as the House bill. The Senate bill, under the compromise, we believe, would be about $827 billion.
WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Friday regarding the Democrats agreement on the trillion-dollar spending bill:
The question of whether or not the economy needs help is really not in debate. I don't think there's a single member of the Senate that believes that no action is the appropriate course for us to take.
But one of the good things about reading history is you learn a good deal. And, we know for sure that the big spending programs of the New Deal did not work.
In 1940, unemployment was still 15%. And, it's widely agreed among economists, that what got us out of the doldrums that we were in during the Depression was the beginning of World War II.
We have another example.
What is called in Japan the Lost Decade of the 1990's, where stimulus packages similar to the one we're considering tonight were tried again, and again, and again. And, at the end of the 1990's, Japan, looked very much like it did at the beginning of the 1990's, except that it had a much larger debt.
Now, we've not seen the compromise proposal, which has been discussed here tonight. And, I know there's been a good faith effort on the part of those involved to pare down the size of the underlying Senate measure.
But as near as we can tell, even after those efforts, it is roughly the same size as the House bill.
According to the figures Ive been given, the House bill is about $820 billion. The Senate bill, under the compromise, we believe, would be about $827 billion. Bear in mind the interest costs on either of those proposals would be $348 billion. So we're really talking about a $1.1 trillion pending measure.
A $1.1 trillion spending measure. We're looking at a $1 trillion deficit for this fiscal year.
We believe that the Secretary of the Treasury and the President will suggest to us as early as next week that we need to do -- what has commonly become referred to as a TARP round some kind of additional assistance for the financial system as early as next week. We're talking about an extraordinarily large amount of money and a crushing debt for our grandchildren.
Now, if most Republicans were convinced that this would work, there might be a greater willingness to support it. But all the historical evidence suggests that it's highly unlikely to work. And so, you have to balance the likelihood of success versus the crushing debt that we're levying on the backs of our children, our grandchildren, and, yes, their children.
And the need to finance all of this debt which many suspect would lead to ever higher and higher interest rates which could create a new round of problems for our economy.
So let me just sum it up by saying no action is not what any of my Republican colleagues are advocating. But most of us are deeply skeptical that this will work. And that level of skepticism leads us to believe that this course of action should not be chosen.
We had an opportunity to do this in a truly bipartisan basis and the President said originally he had hoped to get 80 votes. It appears that, the way this has developed, there will be some bipartisan support, but not a lot. And it's not likely, in the judgment of most of us, to produce the result that we all desire.
So, I will not be in a position to recommend support for this product as it has developed in spite, again, of the best efforts of those who worked on the compromise. I commend them for their willingness to try to work this out. It seems to me that it falls far short of the kind of measure that we should be passing.
Obama speak
Gee, that’s great Mitch. Way to go!
L
How much does any current or former politicians stand to earn from the new "green" jobs being "created" by this Porkulus bill. We need names and amounts.
Thanks,
FWF
That’s my Senator...dead on!
One thing, we borrowed roughly the same amount being proposed in this spending bill between the Civil War and the 1960s...we’re borrowing that same amount in just one bill. We have lost our minds in this country. Commie-Obamie is going to destory us from within without a single shot being fired, just like the Russians predicted. We’re on our way if something is not done soon.
gutless worms! they need to stand up and say this is a socialist coup attempt. Call these people what they are.
And therein lies the problem...
Oh, and for good measure one of the other people on the economic team happens to be heavily invested in green and employees Al Gore.
$1T?
We could outright give every unemployed person $90,000.
We could give every employer, for 9 years, a $10,000 tax credit for each person they hire and keep hired.
Exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Thanks Arizona!
I also read Buffett just bought into Harley and there is $60 billion in the pork bill for Harley to provide new motorcycles to police departments. Now, I like Harley and I think police should have good bikes, but I find it strange Buffett is buying into all these companies and then Obama is rewarding him with pork contracts.
Well ... it ain’t “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”
Obama is poised to run the biggest corporate welfare regime in history.
We call call call tomorrow and fax including the RNC. These GOP morons have the usurper on the ropes and they don’t even know it. Fight you fools fight!
Anything Obama signs may be void and the BC is FAR from over.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin186.htm
McConnell is not exactly “Mr. Excitement.”
Same reason why Buffett is the majority shareholder in Well Fargo and the Lib Dem Sandlers dumped World Savings (filled with toxic pic a pay mtgs) on Wachovia. Wachovia blows up thanks to Soros and gang shorts then Buffett bous it for a song PLUS gets BILLIONS in tax loss carryforwards for eternity.
These looters are not being exposed. Screw Buffett and Harley.
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