The Facts About our Economic Challenges

Floor Speech

THE FACTS ABOUT OUR ECONOMIC CHALLENGES -- (House of Representatives - January 08, 2009)

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, we have been dealing with economic challenges for several months. Last fall it was called a bailout. Now it's being called a stimulus or sometimes an economic recovery plan. But I think it's important that we talk about the facts of what we're discussing.

The stimulus being discussed now could range from $800 billion to more than $1.3 trillion. This will likely be the largest single spending bill in history. Now, what will this do to our deficit which we heard so much about for the 2 years before the Democrats took power?

Nonpartisan budget experts are now predicting a deficit for 2009 of almost $1.3 trillion, triple the current year's deficit. That would equal 9 percent of GDP, which is a 50 percent increase over the World War II record of 6 percent. We may be paying a premium rate to foreign investors like China to borrow this kind of money. And what's going to be included in that package? $350,000 for a fitness center, $4.5 million to bottle water with recyclable bottles.

Mr. Speaker, we need more of the facts, not just words.

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