[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 137 (Thursday, September 15, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5640-S5641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. McCONNELL. It has been 1 week now since the President unveiled 
his second stimulus. Today, 1 week later, White House aides are 
expected to hold a briefing to explain it all to the Democrats who do 
not understand the details.
  One would think they would want to be briefed on details before the 
President demanded they pass it right away, not after. Then, again, the 
White House probably expected stronger support from Democrats than it 
has gotten so far. After all, this bill's top selling point, according 
to the President, is that both parties should like it. Yet so far the 
only thing both parties in Congress seem to agree on is there has to be 
a better way.
  Earlier this week, after several of us suggested the President would 
have a hard time convincing Members of his own party to support this 
plan, a number of them have proved us right. While the President was in 
Ohio insisting over and over that Congress pass the bill, it seemed as 
though the only Democrats who were even willing to talk about it on 
Capitol Hill were tearing it apart. We had the Democratic majority 
leader basically treating it like a legislative afterthought. One 
freshman Senator called parts of the bill frustrating and unfair. 
Another Democrat called a central part of the bill terrible. One 
veteran Democrat was tamping down expectations of it passing in one 
piece. Another veteran Democrat suggested a completely different 
approach to jobs. I know the President and his advisers are keen on 
this idea of making Republicans look bad, but from what I can tell, he 
has a big problem at the moment lining up supporters in his own party.
  That brings me to the real issue. The truth is, the President has a 
problem that no amount of political strategizing can solve: His 
economic policies simply have not worked. Yet he and his advisers seem 
to be the only folks in Washington who are not ready to admit it. We 
are in the middle of a crisis. The average length of unemployment is at 
an alltime high. Median income is going down instead of up. Poverty 
levels are higher than they have ever been in two decades. Millions of 
Americans cannot find work. The numbers just keep getting worse and the 
President's solution is to demand another Washington stimulus bill. Is 
that because the first one worked out so well?
  The first stimulus is a national punch line: turtle tunnels, 
sidewalks to nowhere, and now we are hearing reports that the White 
House fast-tracked a $\1/2\ billion loan to a politically connected 
energy firm that their own analyst said was not ready for prime time. 
This place, this energy firm, was supposed to be the poster child of 
how the original stimulus would create jobs. Now it is bankrupt and 
most of its 1,100 employees are out of work. And they want another 
stimulus?

[[Page S5641]]

  Even if we do not know about any of the waste or the alleged 
cronyism, here is the bottom line: 2\1/2\ years after the President 
signed the first stimulus, there are 1.7 million fewer jobs in this 
country. That is 1.7 million fewer jobs after borrowing and spending 
$825 billion to create them. What more do we need to know than that? We 
have done that. We have gone down that road before. Shouldn't we try 
something different? How about we do what just about every job creator 
in America is telling us they need in order to create jobs? Tax reform. 
Loosening the grip of government regulations and free-trade agreements. 
That is how we will create a better environment for jobs in our 
country. It might mean the President doesn't get his tax hikes, but it 
would mean more jobs.
  I know some people sometimes get attached to a single idea, and this 
President seems to have come into office with one big idea; that there 
is not a problem we have in this country that bigger government cannot 
solve. At a certain point, we have to take stock. We have to check the 
results and see how we are doing. I think it is pretty clear to most 
people what the results suggest. It is time to change course.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois is recognized.

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