[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 4, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H1001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE STIMULUS PLAN

  (Ms. JENKINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JENKINS. Mr. Speaker, the folks in Kansas are struggling right 
now, and they are hoping Congress can provide some relief. Instead, 
this body introduced and passed a bill, spending nearly $1 trillion, 
disguised as a stimulus package, without a single Republican vote in 
favor of it.
  By large majorities, I am hearing from Kansans that while they are 
eager for action to stimulate the economy, they do not support the bill 
the House passed last week. They also express continued frustration 
with the ``partisan rule'' in Washington, as opposed to a balanced 
bipartisan approach to good government.
  When discussion about this package began, it was all about 
infrastructure investment and job creation. But somewhere along the 
way, the Speaker and the majority have lost sight of that and instead 
decided to craft a massive pork-laden bill.
  The Speaker's bill spends almost as much as Congress has appropriated 
for all war-related programs since 2001. And now we hear that the 
Senate wants to spend even more. This bill will take resources from the 
private sector, creating more government, not more jobs. In the long-
run, this extreme expense of Federal spending will burden our children.
  This bill will take resources from the private sector, creating more 
government not more jobs. In the long run, this extreme level of 
federal spending will burden our children. That's not an economic 
stimulus. That's a crime.
  What's more, many of the programs funded in this bill may have merit 
but they will not stimulate our economy. Before any program was 
included, two questions should have been asked. (1) Will this help the 
economy? And (2) Will it create jobs? If the answers were NO, then it 
should have been saved for another day.
  The House Republicans had an alternative recovery package that, 
according to President Obama's economic advisors, cost less and created 
more jobs. It would have allowed fast-acting tax relief for working 
families and small businesses.
  Immediate tax relief would allow Kansans to keep more of their 
paychecks to use however they want. My constituents in Kansas know 
better than Washington politicians and bureaucrats how to use their 
money to stimulate our economy.
  A real stimulus needs to have a balance of tax relief and targeted 
investment in our crumbling roads and bridges. The majority party 
forced through a bill full of wasteful and irresponsible government 
spending, and it needs to be fixed.

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