[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1590]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            STIMULUS MISTAKE

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, last week marked 1 year since the passage of 
the $862 billion so-called stimulus bill, a bill that was supposed to 
keep unemployment below 8 percent, a bill that was supposed to boost 
the economy and private sector job creation, a bill completely paid for 
with borrowed money in a time of ballooning deficits. We have not seen 
the broad benefits promised by the stimulus bill, but we will soon have 
to pay the price for this borrowing and spending.
  I would encourage all of my colleagues to turn to page A19 in today's 
Wall Street Journal and read about the true economic cost of the 
stimulus bill. According to Harvard economist Robert Barro, over 5 
years the stimulus package creates an extra $600 billion in public 
spending, but at the cost of $900 billion in private expenditures. We 
spent money that we didn't have, and for each dollar spent, we will 
have to pay back $1.50 in higher taxes. Mr. Barro sums it up by saying, 
``The 2009 stimulus bill was a mistake.''
  We need to focus on private sector job growth, not borrowing for more 
government spending.

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