Stimulus Package

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, before I make some remarks about the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, I wish to respond to the Republican leader's comments about the ongoing negotiations that have been inspired by President Obama's request that we pass a stimulus package, a spending bill and tax cut package that will reinvigorate this economy and try to stop the loss of jobs in America.

It is troubling to hear the frequent criticism from the Republican side that this is going to add to our deficit. No one doubts that. We are talking about the need to spend money immediately to stop the downward spiral of our economy. It will surely add to the deficit. But doing nothing, taking the approach that has been espoused by many on the other side of the aisle, will lead to even greater deficits and more suffering.

What we are trying to do is to step in with this tourniquet and try to stop the bleeding in this economy so we can turn it around for the families and businesses that are suffering today.

It troubles me, as I hear the Republican leader come and tell us of their concerns about deficits. I think, frankly, the air in the Senate Chamber leads to political amnesia, because many of the critics of our current efforts have forgotten that when President Bush came to office 8 years ago, he inherited a surplus from the Clinton administration--a surplus. We were giving longevity to the Social Security Program because we had a surplus in the Treasury. What happened to that surplus? I will tell you what happened. President Bush, George W. Bush, inherited the debt of the United States, the accumulated debt of every President from George Washington to George W. Bush, which was $5 trillion.

At the end of his 8 years we had more than doubled the national debt of America. His decisions to double that debt by a war he did not pay for and tax cuts for wealthy people at a time when we should not have had tax cuts were endorsed by that side of the aisle. They stood in approval of President Bush's policies that doubled the national debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion.

President Obama, 3 weeks ago, inherited the worst economic crisis since Franklin Roosevelt came to office in 1933 with the Great Depression. He is doing everything in his power to turn this around and he knows we need to spend money into this economy to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs. The criticism from the other side of the aisle is it is going to add to the national debt. Where have these tears been for the last 8 years when their President doubled the national debt?

I am also troubled by the fact that when this package came before the Congress, many Republican Senators who refused to vote for it added costs to the package. A Senator from Iowa in the Finance Committee added an amendment that cost $70 billion to the package and then said he couldn't vote for the package because it costs too much. A Senator from Georgia added anywhere from $11 to $30 billion, depending on the best estimate, to the cost of the package and then said he couldn't vote for the package because it costs too much.

I have to tell you, I do not believe that the message from the other side of the aisle is consistent.

Three Republican Senators have had the courage to step up and say we will work with you, we will come together and try to solve this problem. I salute them--Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine and Senator Specter of Pennsylvania. But, they said, if you are going to do that we want to reduce the cost of the package.

I did not happen to agree with that approach, but I am prepared to compromise. I am prepared to work with them. It took $100 billion out of this package, this recovery and reinvestment package. Frankly, I do not, as I said, agree with that--at a time we had to basically come together if we were going to have any agreement.

Now the Senate Republican leader comes to the floor and criticizes the cuts in the package. Why did the amount of tax cuts for families go from $500 to $400? It was because the Republican Senators said we want to bring down the cost and that was one of the ways we did it. I can't follow the logic, if there is any, on the other side of the aisle--criticizing adding to the deficit after they doubled it over the last 8 years, then criticizing cuts in the package, reducing its spending when in fact they say it costs too much, and offering amendments on that side of the aisle to add cost to the package and then arguing that it is too expensive. It is completely inconsistent. Their arguments are completely inconsistent and I think the American people know it.

They want Congress to come together and find solutions. They want partnership, not partisanship. They want us to stop squabbling and start working together. That is what we are trying to do, even today. It is hard. It is difficult. We are trying to find the votes to make this happen. It is essential that we do.

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