Press Conference with Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Kay Hutchison (R-TX), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mel Martinez (R-FL) and David Vitter (R-LA) Subject: Long-Term Economic Growth

Statement

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SEN. MCCONNELL: Good morning, everyone. Maybe it would be helpful for me to say, at the outset, what our press conference this morning is not about. It's not about the discussions that Senator Reid and I are having about how to structure going forward on the short-term stimulus package.

Republican senators also feel very strongly that we need to be thinking about the long-term economic health of our country. And I have, behind me, senators who are deeply invested in the subject of how to do that. And we want to talk today about beyond the moment, the moment being defined as working out the short-term stimulus and getting it to the president for his signature as rapidly as possible. I think we've come up with a way to do that, and hopefully we can agree on how to do that on a bipartisan basis, but instead talk about the long-term health of our country.

And I'm going to, with that, turn it over to our Policy Committee chairman, Kay Hutchison.

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