Republicans Continue to Challenge Pork-filled Obama "Stimulus" Bill

February 6, 2009 - 1:46pm — Jim Backlin

Senate Republicans continue to challenge the pork-filled Obama "stimulus" bill now bloated up to $930 Billion ($110 Billion more than the House bill which received NO Republican votes last week; with interest, bill will balloon to some $1.4 TRILLION) - Democrats continue to defeat Republican-sponsored amendments to kill hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars of non-stimulus, pork-filled items in the Obama bill

 

The United States Senate continued voting this week on amendments to the largest money bill in American history, by far, the Obama "stimulus" legislation, which has now bloated to $930 BILLION.  With interest costs to the American people, the bill is expected to cost taxpayers some $1.4 TRILLION, and even Democrat economists believe in the long run the bill will hurt the economy, not help it.  The Republicans offered a bill which costs half as much as the Democrats' bill which will produce twice as many jobs in the coming years.

Unfortunately, the United States Senate is now filled with extreme left-wingers who could not even agree to the following commonsense amendments by Republican Senators Jim DeMint (South Carolina,) John McCain (Arizona,) and David Vitter (Lousiana). 

Senator DeMint's “American Option” plan would repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT,) make current capital gains and dividends rates permanent, reform the death tax, make the Child Tax Credit and marriage penalty relief permanent, consolidate deductions, and would reform the income tax into 3 rates: 10%, 15%, and 25%.  The DeMint "American Option" amendment received the votes of only 36 Senators.

Senator McCain's amendment would reimplement the famous and successful Gramm-Rudman-Hollings program to require spending cuts from appropriated monies in this bill upon 2 consecutive quarters of positive GDP growth. Incredibly, even this commonsense amendment failed by a margin of 44-53. 

Senator Vitter's amendment which would eliminate over $26 billion of wasteful spending provisions from Obama's "stimulus" bill failed by a margin of 32-65.

Filed under: 

Responces

Comments

Submitted by Acolyte on February 13, 2009 - 7:54am.

The new administration will keep wasting its time and taxpayers' money on shoring up banks that won't lend to ease the credit crisis. The best way to eliminate troubled assets from troubled financial institutions is to refinance them at lower interest rates.

Bad times lead to bad policies and even well-intentioned politicians will be in over their heads.

Congress will have to decide on very technical issues - such as mark-to-market accounting rules, prudential banking regulation, and bankruptcy laws - that will have a direct impact on markets. The debate will inevitably be publicized, raising the possibility of clumsy and burdensome legislation.

Protectionism and resistance to consolidation, both of which impair the workings of markets are already in evidence and could do longer-term damage to the economy. Suppose a U.S. bank that accepted government funds begins to increase its lending, but that lending is outside the U.S. The incoming Congress might have a problem with "U.S. taxpayer money" being lent outside the U.S. when lending in the U.S. has not picked up by an equal amount.

Legislative tussling aside, an energized president, taking power in the midst of a crisis surpassed only by the Great Depression, will likely make bold moves that hearken back to those dark times. Obama may be channeling FDR next week. In his first days FDR closed the banks, proposed deposit insurance and devalued the dollar. Stocks after FDR's first 100 days were up over 80%.

The most dramatic development would be the creation of a governmental "bad bank" that would take on weakened assets and strengthen the overall financial sector, a maneuver that could be spearheaded by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

If there is a political constraint on higher government borrowing, then the best way to sell that is to propose something bold and present the borrowing as what is needed to deliver it.
Syndicate content
© 2012 - Christian Coalition of America - Roberta Combs, President