[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 132 (Thursday, September 8, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5396-S5397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ECONOMIC CLIMATE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, later today both Houses of Congress 
will welcome President Obama to speak about a very serious crisis we 
face as a nation, namely, an economic climate that is making it 
impossible for millions of Americans to find the work they need to 
support themselves and their families.
  In a two-party system such as ours, it shouldn't be surprising that 
there would be two very different points of view about how to solve 
this particular crisis. What is surprising is the President's apparent 
determination to apply the same government-driven policies that have 
already been tried and failed. The definition of insanity, as Albert 
Einstein once famously put it, is to do the same thing over and over 
again and to expect a different result. Frankly, I can't think of a 
better description of anyone who thinks the solution to this problem is 
another stimulus. The first stimulus didn't do it. Why would another?
  This is one question the White House and a number of Democrats 
clearly don't want to answer. That is why some of them are out there 
coaching

[[Page S5397]]

people not to use the word ``stimulus'' when describing the President's 
plan. Others are accusing anybody who criticizes it of being 
unpatriotic or playing politics. Well, as I have said before, there is 
a much simpler reason to oppose the President's economic policies that 
has nothing whatsoever to do with politics: They simply don't work. 
Yet, by all accounts, the President's so-called jobs plan is to try 
those very same policies again and then accuse anyone who doesn't 
support them this time around of being political or overly partisan, of 
not doing what is needed in this moment of crisis.
  This isn't a jobs plan. It is a reelection plan. That is why 
Republicans have continued to press for policies, policies that empower 
job creators, not Washington.
  According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly a third of the 
unemployed have been out of work for more than a year. The average 
length of unemployment is now greater than 40 weeks, higher than it was 
even during the Great Depression. As we know, the longer you are out of 
a job, the harder it is to find one. That means, for millions of 
Americans, this crisis is getting harder every day. It is getting worse 
and worse.
  We also know this: The economic policies this President has tried 
have not alleviated the problem. In many ways, in fact, they have made 
things worse. Gas prices are up. The national debt is up. Health 
insurance premiums are up. Home values in most places continue to fall. 
And, 2\1/2\ years after the President's signature jobs bill was signed 
into law, 1.7 million fewer Americans have jobs. So I would say 
Americans have 1.7 million reasons to oppose another stimulus. That is 
why many of us have been calling on the President to propose something 
entirely different tonight--not because of politics but because the 
kind of policies he has proposed in the past haven't worked. The 
problem here isn't politics. The problem is the policy. It is time the 
President start thinking less about how to describe his policies 
differently and more time thinking about devising new policies. And he 
might start by working with Congress instead of writing in secret, 
without any consultation with Republicans, a plan that the White House 
is calling bipartisan.
  With 14 million Americans out of work, job creation should be a no-
politics zone. Republicans stand ready to act on policies that get the 
private sector moving again. What we are reluctant to do, however, is 
to allow the President to put us deeper in debt to finance a collection 
of short-term fixes or shots in the arm that might move the needle 
today but which deny America's job creators the things they need to 
solve this crisis--predictability, stability, fewer government burdens, 
and less redtape. Because while this crisis may have persisted for far 
too long and caused far too much hardship, one thing we do have right 
now is the benefit of hindsight. We know what doesn't work.
  So tonight the President should take a different approach. He should 
acknowledge the failures of an economic agenda that centers on 
government and spending and debt, and work across the aisle on a plan 
that puts people and businesses at the forefront of job creation.
  If the American people are going to have control over their own 
destiny, they need to have more control over their economy. That means 
shifting the center of gravity away from Washington and toward those 
who create jobs. It means putting an end to the regulatory overreach 
that is holding job creators back. It means being as bold about 
liberating job creators as the administration has been about shackling 
them. It means reforming an outdated Tax Code and getting out of the 
business of picking winners and losers. It means lowering the U.S. 
corporate tax rate, which is currently the second highest in the world. 
And it means leveling the playing field with our competitors overseas 
by approving free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South 
Korea that have been languishing on the President's desk literally for 
years.
  Contrary to the President's claims, this economic approach isn't 
aimed at pleasing any one party or constituency. It is aimed at giving 
back to the American people the tools they need to do the work 
Washington has not been able to do on its own, despite its best efforts 
over the past few years.
  The President is free to blame his political adversaries, his 
predecessor, or even natural disasters for America's economic 
challenges. Tonight, he may blame any future challenges on those who 
choose not to rubberstamp his latest proposals. But it should be noted 
that this is precisely what Democratic majorities did during the 
President's first 2 years in office, and look where that got us. But 
here is the bottom line: By the President's own standards, his jobs 
agenda has been a failure, and we can't afford to make the same mistake 
twice.
  After the President's speech tonight calling for more stimulus 
spending, the Senate will vote on his request for an additional $500 
billion increase in the debt limit, so Senators will have an 
opportunity to vote for or against this type of approach right away.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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