[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 5, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S613-S614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            STIMULUS PACKAGE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Americans are probably wondering why 
the rebate checks we have been talking about now for almost a month are 
still being debated on the floor of the Senate, and we owe them an 
answer.
  Two weeks ago they saw what looked like a bipartisan agreement 
between Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the White House over 
the details of a deal. They saw Speaker Pelosi and Leader Boehner, to 
their great credit, resist the temptation to add pet projects that they 
knew would only slow the package down--and rob it of its stimulative 
effect. They heard a chorus of pleas from economists, trade groups, and 
Members of both parties in both Chambers endorsing this approach. This 
package had to be targeted and it had to be timely, or it wouldn't work 
at all.
  So most days we find ourselves trying to explain to people why it 
takes so long to do things in the Senate. But this time was going to be 
different. Here was that rare situation when both parties agreed to put 
politics and individual interests aside and come together for the good 
of the people.

[[Page S614]]

  But then the stimulus bullet train turned into a rickety stage coach 
here in the Senate. When it got right down to it, Senate Democrats 
couldn't do what House Democrats had done. They couldn't resist--not 
even one time--a chance to play politics.
  If Americans are wondering why their checks aren't in the mail, they 
can find it in last week's news clips. Of particular interest is an AP 
story entitled ``Politics Creeps into Stimulus Package.'' Democrats are 
holding onto the stimulus bill, the article said, not to speed up the 
rebate checks, but to try to make Republicans look bad in November. 
Asked about the amendments we were expecting to take up this week, the 
senior Senator from New York said, ``It's tough votes for them.'' It's 
tough votes for them.
  Now, the same AP article also helpfully points out that the senior 
Senator from New York is no sideline observer in this debate. It notes 
that he moonlights as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign 
Committee. For people outside the beltway, that means he is in charge 
of recruiting and helping Democrat candidates for the Senate--which, 
this week, according to the AP, evidently involves holding up the 
stimulus bill over votes he thinks will help his candidates against 
Republicans in November.
  Now I don't know if the thrust of this article was entirely accurate. 
But if it was, these are precisely the kind of shenanigans Americans 
had been hoping we could get past this year. And, frankly, Senate 
Republicans were hopeful after the speed with which the House approved 
its version of the growth package that Senate Democrats would also see 
the wisdom in coming together to deliver relief in a timely manner.
  It's disappointing that politics would come to play a part in a deal 
that seemed refreshingly free from it for a change. But unfortunately, 
it seems the never-ending campaign that tainted so much of last year's 
Senate business has carried over to this year.
  Last night, my good friend the majority leader suggested that 
Republicans were delaying action on the stimulus plan because we asked 
for some time to review his latest proposal--a full 4 days after he 
said he would deliver it. Never mind that passage of the Senate 
Democrats' bill forces a conference, worsening an already-prolonged 
process. Never mind that once we did take a look, we noticed an extra 
$1 billion in spending, which I think most Americans would consider a 
significant addition. And never mind that our friends on the other side 
had no intention of voting on the package today anyway.
  We could have disposed of this stimulus package a week ago, but our 
Democratic colleagues wanted, as they said, to put their ``stamp'' on 
it.
  Mr. President, I don't think Americans care one bit whether this bill 
has a Republican or a Democratic stamp on it. They are completely fed 
up with political gotcha. Americans want--and deserve--results.
  Taxpayers will get their rebate checks and businesses will get their 
much-needed relief, but not without having to watch a show here for a 
few more days or a week--put on for the sake of a depressingly familiar 
political circus.
  That is unacceptable to Republicans. I presume it is unacceptable to 
the 385 Democrats and Republicans who voted the stimulus package out of 
the House.
  It is unacceptable to the more than 100 million American families who 
are probably still wondering why we are talking about this bill at all.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.

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