Stimulus Mark-Up

Floor Speech

STIMULUS MARK-UP -- (Senate - January 31, 2008)

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, last week, Americans saw something many of them thought they might never see: Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Boehner, and the President working as a team. Republicans and Democrats rose above politics and put the people and the economy first. And on Tuesday, the House passed their compromise stimulus plan by a vote of 385-35. Then all eyes turned to the Senate: Would we put our individual interests aside, or would we throw the whole plan into jeopardy by loading it down with gifts for anybody who came calling?

Apparently the temptation for giveaways was too great for some to resist. As soon as the bill hit the Senate, it started to look a lot like Christmas over here. Chairman Baucus added 10 new provisions before the bill was even considered in committee. Three more amendments were added in committee. You could almost hear Bing Crosby's voice coming out of the Finance Committee. And so the stimulus train is slowing grinding to a halt here in the U.S. Senate.

All of this only reinforces my view that the only way we'll get relief to the people soon enough for it to work will be to insist on speed over spending. And the only way to do that is to pass the bipartisan, House-passed bill. That way we can send it to the President for a signature--and get much needed relief into the hands of millions of Americans as quickly as they are now expecting it. This is the only way to pass an economic growth package that doesn't grow the government or raise taxes and that can be signed into law in a timely manner. The other option is to bring it to the floor, where we know it will only grow and slow under the weight of endless additional spending proposals. We need to act quickly. The majority leader called for a bill that is ``timely.'' The House acted quickly. Now it is our turn.

We have a choice: We can accept Washington politics as usual and spend weeks and weeks arguing over how much more can be added to an already unwieldy bill or we can act right now and deliver a timely economic growth package with bipartisan support that can be signed into law now. We could get a bill down to the President in thirty seconds if we want to. The White House and the House have done their part. Now let's do our part. Let's vote on the House-passed bill, without any further delay.

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