American Recovery And Reinvestment Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, let me add briefly, it strikes me that one of the core problems in spite of the new President's popularity with Americans is, there is a growing discontent among the public, as illustrated by the Gallup poll, which 4 or 5 days ago indicated roughly 53 percent of Americans thought this particular proposal was a good idea, and it is now down to 38 percent a mere 5 or 6 days later.

The American people have serious questions about the composition of this package. I think virtually everybody on our side of the aisle believes that some action by the Government is necessary. We have heard from a lot of economists who are thought of as conservative economists who think that action is necessary.

The question is not doing nothing versus doing something. The question is the appropriateness of an almost trillion dollar spending bill to address the problem. I agree with the majority leader. We ought to continue talking. Hopefully, there is a way to restart the process in a way that would be more fundamentally bipartisan in nature. We hope that conclusion can be reached in a positive way for the American people sometime in the near future.

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Mr. McCONNELL. I know we would all rather be voting than talking. Republicans are no less interested in doing the right thing for the country than Democrats are. I don't question the motives of our friends on the other side of the aisle, and I know they don't question ours. We have some serious differences about what we ought to do. Those discussions have been ongoing, and we will continue them throughout the evening and maybe well into the weekend until we get some kind of consensus about what is the most appropriate thing to do to help jump-start our ailing economy.

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