[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H2889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ECONOMIC STIMULUS II--MORE DEBT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Stearns) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, with America facing an almost 8 percent 
unemployment rate, record low consumer confidence, and this country's 
worst economic downturn since the beginning of World War II, our Nation 
needs a real economic stimulus package that will give tax relief to 
hurting American businesses, create long-term sustainable job growth, 
and provide real permanent tax relief to American families. What this 
country does not need is the Federal Government increasing our national 
debt to record levels, burying our children and our grandchildren under 
a mountain of debt.
  This Democrat spending plan is simply not stimulative. According to 
CBO, the plan includes over $600 billion in new spending. There are 
some tax cuts, but of the $816 billion in the program, the majority is 
for new spending, from 2009 to 2019. While this plan is aimed at 
quickly injecting government cash into the economy, only 15 percent of 
the spending will occur during this fiscal year, and only 37 percent of 
the spending will occur in fiscal year 2010. This means that over half 
of the plan's spending will occur starting in the year 2011, hardly a 
quick injection into the lagging economy as promised by the Democrat 
authors.
  Many have looked to our economic history to provide guidance for us 
today during this difficult time. Particularly, they've looked at the 
New Deal under President Roosevelt. Unfortunately, what many economists 
have found is that the New Deal principles are stale ideas that do not 
translate into economic stimulus for our economy in the 21st century.
  First, the Great Depression began in 1929 and did not end until 1940. 
And the stock market did not return to the level of September 3, 1929, 
until 1954. If today's economy were to go through a similar recovery, 
we would not fully escape the current recession until the year 2018, 
and the Dow would not reach its high of 2007 until the year 2032.
  Secondly, many economists note that during the Great Depression the 
United States did not actually have much of an expansionary fiscal 
policy. As Tyler Cowen stated in the New York Times article, The New 
Deal Didn't Always Work, Either, ``Under President Herbert Hoover and 
continuing with Roosevelt, the Federal Government increased income 
taxes, excise taxes, inheritance taxes, corporate income tax, holding 
company taxes and `excess profits' taxes. When all of these tax 
increases are taken into account, the New Deal fiscal policy didn't do 
much to promote recovery.''
  This legislation is also an unprecedented expansion of the nation's 
debt burden. The U.S. is projected to have a $1.2 trillion deficit in 
FY 2009 even without the enactment of any stimulus legislation. As a 
percentage of GDP, the projected FY 2009 deficit (8.3% of GDP) is 
considerably larger than any deficit during the Great Depression (the 
highest was 5.4% of GDP in 1934).
  The year 2008 could easily be defined as the year of the bailout. The 
months have passed in a torrent of troubling government ``rescues'' of 
private sector financial firms. Those bailouts have come at a great 
price and have exposed American taxpayers to vast financial risk. And 
in a financial crisis, such as the one we are now facing, bailout after 
bailout is quite simply not a good strategy for recovery.
  Since October of 2008, the U.S. Treasury has committed $350 billion 
in public funds to private financial institutions, many of which have 
utilized reckless investment strategies, through the Troubled Asset 
Relief Program (TARP).
  Specifically, insurance giant AIG has received $40 billion, 
Citigroup--which just tried to spend $50 billion on a luxury corporate 
jet--has received $20 billion, an additional $20 billion has been given 
to the Federal Reserve, and $250 billion has gone to large national 
banks in the form of direct capital injections. Even more troubling is 
the $23 billion of these TARP funds, which has been allocated to bail 
out automobile manufacturers such as General Motors and Chrysler. This 
type of government intervention in the private sector is unprecedented 
and has put us on a precarious path to socialism.

  Given the massive amount of money the Federal Government has spent on 
bailouts since March of 2008, along with the ever-increasing debt 
level, it is unconscionable to continue committing good money after 
bad. This money belongs to the American taxpayer, and now, more than 
ever, we must rein in this out-of-control government spending for our 
future generations who will have to pay back this irresponsible debt 
accumulation.
  Madam Speaker, we need to turn off the government spigot of Federal 
funding into non-stimulative debt spending. It is time for Congress to 
pass a real economic stimulus package that will give tax relief to 
hurting American businesses, create long-term sustainable growth, and 
provide real permanent tax relief to American families.

                          ____________________