[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 13 (Thursday, January 22, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H445-H446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WHAT THE STIMULUS BILL DOESN'T MENTION

  (Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIRK. The economy is hurting and we should act. A stimulus bill 
that backed improving highways and airports would blunt the recession. 
If you look at the stimulus bill the Appropriations Committee approved, 
you would find 11 appropriations totaling $65 billion that would put 2 
million Americans to work, but the bill spends hundreds of millions 
more. It spends more money than the entire GDP of

[[Page H446]]

Australia. Of the 151 appropriations, only 34 even have claims of 
reporting jobs.
  The bill claims to save 3.7 million jobs, but does so at a cost of 
$222,000 each. Private sector jobs only cost $50,000 each. The bill 
quotes one economist, Mark Zandi, six times, but doesn't mention the 
Congressional Budget Office. CBO reports that only $26 billion of this 
trillion dollar bill can be spent in 2009.
  CBO says over $70 billion of the spending will not be spent during 
the entire 4 years of the Obama administration. And one last thing, 
there is no mention of the $2 trillion congressional leaders plan to 
borrow or how our kids will pay it back.

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