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 I’ve 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.
Transparency is the government listening to our phone calls and monitoring all of our financial transactions - not Paulson, Buffett, Timmy Geitner, and the rest of the cabal consolidating our major private assets.
Did you hear Specter on with Hannity at the top of his show? I missed some of it — need to find a later broadcast so i can hear it — talk about clueless.... HOW did that man ever get elected, much less get re-elected?
11th Congress - Senate - Page S1845
Plenty more pap where that BS came from. Like STIMULUS PACKAGE -- (Senate - February 06, 2009), where Lord Senator McConnell utters more crap that he hopes his constituents will buy.
I wish Sean had a little better elevator pitch of the facts about how markets correct themselves when governments don't manipulate them. He could have quoted the excellent WSJ Op Ed today by the Stanford Prof that outlined how government caused this financial mess, then made it MUCH worse by screwing with it.
Also, only 3 RINOs are voting for this POS and 11 Rats voted against the less expensive house version.
AAAARRRRRRHHHHHH!!!!!
Government’s view of the economy..If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Ronald Reagan
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -Thomas Jefferson
for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Churchill
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! - P.J. O’Rourke
Sean needs to READ!!!! Glenn Beck would have done a better job on Specter.
Why yes I have rope and worse, I know how to use it!
Bwha ha ha ha ha
Winks
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