[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H666-H667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

  (Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. I want to join the chorus asking, Where are 
the jobs?

[[Page H667]]

  When the stimulus was passed a year ago, we were promised--promised--
that jobs would be saved. Instead, we've seen 3\1/2\ million people 
lose their jobs. We were promised unemployment wouldn't go above 8 
percent, and yet it's hovering at 10 percent.
  Defenders of the stimulus bill argue that the situation would be much 
worse if the stimulus had never taken effect. But many economists are 
starting to ask a different question: Could it be that the stimulus 
itself is adding to job losses?
  Today's Wall Street Journal features an op-ed by Robert Barro, who is 
a professor of economics at Harvard University. He argues that the 
forgotten element in the stimulus debate is whether the government's 
spending reduced or enhanced private spending and whether public sector 
hiring lowered or raised private hiring. He argues that opening the 
spigots of government spending has actually had a negative impact on 
our economy.
  To quote Mr. Barro: ``Viewed over 5 years, the stimulus package is a 
way to get an extra $600 billion of public spending at the cost of $900 
billion in private expenditure.''
  This is a bad deal.

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