Numb With Numbers: Help Stop the Democrats' "Stimulus" Plan
Remember when a billion dollars used to be a lot of money on Capitol Hill? Today it's practically the budget to refill the toothpick canister at the congressional dining hall. With an $890 billion so-called "stimulus" plan being pushed by Obama and the DC Democrats, the good old days of being indignant over $30 million of pork for moving sidewalks in Altoona now looks like a downright overreaction.
Since our last update on the massive Democrat-sponsored spending package, a lot has happened. Despite the fact it passed the House, we can all be proud that EVERY Republican in Congress opposed it, including, of course, our great delegation here in Virginia of Congressmen Wittman, Forbes, Goodlatte, Wolf and Cantor.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor especially won raves from politicos for his leadership in keeping the Republicans in Congress unified -- no small feat. Republicans stuck to their guns on an alternate plan that would produce twice as many jobs and cost half as much, focusing primarily on tax cuts and stabilizing the housing market (i.e. stuff that will actually stimulate the economy).
Congressman Cantor spelled out himself just some of the problems with the massive Democrat spending/welfare bill:
- 32 new federal programs created, totaling $136 billion;
- 60 pro-Democrat government programs expanded;
- $6 billion in corporate welfare to broadband companies;
- $600 million to "prepare our country for universal healthcare" (e.g., socialized medicine);
- $1 billion for the never-profitable Amtrak;
- $400 million on climate change research;
- $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Now we know why Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi wanted this thing passed right away. The more people find out about it, the more this zeppelin of government waste loses altitude. According to the latest Gallup poll, only 38% support the Democrat stimulus plan while 54% oppose it in its current form. Meanwhile, in a recent Rasmussen survey, 53% of respondents agreed with the statement that "tax cuts are always better than increased spending in stimulating the economy".
It's reassuring to know that the American people still have a firm grasp of what makes the economy actually work and why more government deficit spending actually hurts. If only the Democrats who are addicted to spending knew this as well.
Or maybe they do, but just don't care?
For example, this bill says billions are needed for roads and infrastructure, but in the last 10 years, Washington has approved over $500 billion in transportation projects, $217 billion in 1998 under Bill Clinton and $284 billion in 2004 under President Bush. What's happened to that money? Are the roads crumbling already? Of course not -- it's just time for the Democrats to throw more money at the unions who loyally support them.
And the public isn’t gaining confidence that Obama knows what he’s doing in the captain’s chair either, since at one point he said the recovery will take "years not months," and then a day later saying we’ll start recovering in "months".
If Obama wants to be the next FDR, we hope he sticks to mimicking his oratory, because his economic plan isn't one we want to see again in America any time soon. As has been proven countless times, whether under JFK, Reagan, Bush 43 after 9/11 -- tax cuts stimulate an economy and create jobs, not government spending programs.
My friend Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform made some excellent points on this issue that bear repeating. He painted a scenario of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi taking a bucket of water from one side of a lake and then holding a press conference on the other side as they pour it back in -- all while claiming they helped raise the water level. Brilliant; this is government spending's influence on the economy in a nutshell in the best of circumstances.
Government doesn't create wealth; it can only move it around, and always less efficiently than the free market. Since he was talking about "buckets", Norquist could also have thrown in the observation from Yale economist Arthur Okun that when the government moves things around in a proverbial bucket (representing government transfers) there will always be leakage, meaning a loss of resources making everyone poorer.
And what do you know -- the Democrat plan claims it will create 3 million new jobs for a mere $890 billion (that would be $300,000 per job), or roughly enough to pay the back taxes of Obama's cabinet picks.
The bloat, waste, fraud and political payouts of this bill are just staggering, and it simply must be defeated. As it moves to the Senate, Republican unity and some good PR work have already helped us kill some of the more ridiculous measures, but by no means enough of them. Dropped from the original bill so far:
- $75 million for anti-smoking campaigns (isn't that what all the cigarette taxes were for?);
- $200 million for family planning (hey, I planned my family for free);
- $200 million to re-sod the national mall (maybe Barack was tired of Michelle nagging him about the lawn, but this is too much).
When Republicans unified against the bill last week in the House the public's preference for Republicans actually shot-up.
Now the Democrats are paying attention, with even some of them now calling it a "so-called stimulus bill." Momentum is on our side even with the Democrats having large majorities in Congress, but we have to keep the pressure up if we are to kill or radically change this plan to avoid damaging our economy and saddling generations to come with insurmountable debt.
Because we helped expose the fraud of this package and its poll numbers are plummeting, Democrats in the Senate -- unlike in the House -- are willing to talk across the aisle to make some changes, but nothing is set in stone.
Let's keep the momentum going and make your voice heard. Call Senators Warner and Webb and tell them to save our economy and our future and OPPOSE this disastrous piece of legislation. You can call the U.S. Congress switchboard at 202-224-3121 or call them directly: Senator Warner at 202-224-2023 and Senator Webb at 202-224-4024.
Let's send a message that we're paying attention to what they're doing and will hold them accountable. Let's remind the Democrats here in Virginia that to some people, a billion dollars is still a lot of money.
Jeffrey M. Frederick, Chairman
Republican Party of Virginia
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