[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 26 (Thursday, February 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     STIMULUS TWO-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, two years ago today, at a moment of 
deep economic uncertainty, the President signed a bill that he said 
would put us back on track. It was a plan, he said, that would ``save 
or create'' up to 4 million jobs over 2 years--a figure that he called 
his bottom line for success, a plan that was supposed to drive 
unemployment below 7 percent by now. And it was predicated on the 
notion that government spending--spending borrowed money on government 
programs--was the recipe for a rebound; a plan that said if we 
``invest'' in government, we will get out of this mess.
  We were told the bill included record investments. And then we 
learned what the administration means by ``investment:'' a plant 
database project; a multimillion dollar facelift for the Sunset Strip; 
a study of the mating decisions of female cactus bugs; hundreds of 
millions of dollars to a solar panel company that was supposed to 
double its workforce but ended up cutting jobs instead; massive 
bailouts to the States; turtle tunnels. Senators get the drift.
  Within a year of its passage, the so-called stimulus bill had become 
a national punchline.
  Nearly a trillion dollars was added to the debt as a result of this 
bill in the name of investing in our future. And in the 2 years since 
it was signed, we have lost millions of jobs.
  And now they want to do it again. They are back for more.
  Just as amazing is the fact that the same people who touted this bill 
now refuse to cut government spending. We learn about another wasteful 
stimulus project just about every day, and they say they can't find a 
dime's worth of government spending to cut?
  It defies common sense.
  I mean, if we can't cut a turtle tunnel when the country is $14 
trillion in the hole, we have problems. It is time to turn over the 
credit card.
  The bottom line here is that 2 years after the President told us he 
was investing in our future, here is what we have to show for it: 
higher unemployment than they predicted and trillions more in debt.
  The fact is, dangerously high debt has actually slowed the recovery, 
making it harder to create private sector jobs.
  So in my view this second debate was over before it started.
  Massive government investment of borrowed taxpayer money as a tool 
for economic growth has been a failure.

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