News Conference with John Boehner (R-OH) and House Republican Leaders - Passage of Stimulus Bill in House of Representatives
Press Conference
News Conference with John Boehner (R-OH) and House Republican Leaders - Passage of Stimulus Bill in House of Representatives
NEWS CONFERENCE WITH JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH) AND HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERS
SUBJECT: PASSAGE OF STIMULUS BILL IN HOUSE OF REPS
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REP. BOEHNER: This is the Democrats' 1100-page stimulus bill: with interest, nearly a billion dollars a page in spending -- a bill that I'll guarantee you not one member of Congress read.
And the fact is, I don't think the Democrats wanted people to read it, because they might actually find out what's in it. And in the days and weeks and months to come, we'll know how this money will be spent.
I've just got to say, the president made clear when we started this process that this was about jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And what it's turned into is nothing more than spending, spending and more spending. American families, small businesses deserve better from their Congress.
I said on the opening day we wouldn't be the party of no. And we haven't been. We offered an alternative that would have created twice as many jobs as their bill at half the price. And I want to thank Eric Cantor and his whip team, and his working group, who put together our alternative that we believe would have been a better solution for the economic crisis that affects American families and small businesses.
And that's why we were so adamantly opposed to this.
We think we have a better idea that really will create jobs and put money back into the hands of the American people. A dollar-ten a week to the average American family is not going to solve the problems that they face.
A dollar-ten a week to the average American family is not going to solve the problems that they face. But I also want to thank Mike Pence and the conference for the job that they did, in terms of getting materials to members, so that we could go into this fight, on behalf of the American people, with all the tools that we need.
With that, I'll turn it over to Eric.
REPRESENTATIVE ERIC CANTOR (R-VA) (minority whip): Thank you, Leader.
Every Republican in the House voted against this bill for one simple reason. We believed that this Congress can do better. And we had a plan to achieve that goal.
We Republicans, as the leader said, got together and said we weren't going to be just the party of no; that we were going to develop proposals reflecting our vision for where this country should head. We developed an innovative plan to preserve, protect and create jobs that analysts have concluded would create twice as many jobs at half the cost.
So our Republican members will go home today, to their districts, with a message that their constituents overwhelmingly support, that tax relief designed to revitalize struggling small businesses and help middle-class families, is the most immediate way to rekindle America's economy and to create jobs.
With that, I'll hand it over to the vice chairman of our conference, Cathy Rodgers.
REPRESENTATIVE CATHY MCMORRIS-RODGERS (R-WA) (conference vice chair): Thank you.
Today's vote was a disappointment from the perspective that just a month ago, we were sworn into office. And we had the inauguration. And we were promised that Washington was going to change, that we were going to fix a broken system.
We were promised that we were going to work in a bipartisan fashion. And as I continued to hear from people back home, they were asking me, well, does Washington get it? Do they understand that we are hurting, that we're struggling?
And instead we saw a vote today, a bill that came before Congress, that unfortunately didn't have the bipartisan support and unfortunately hadn't changed.
There was a same old solution that was based upon borrowing and spending more money rather than really taking the steps to fix what is a broken system as well as a broken economy right now.
I was quite disappointed that the will of the House was ignored as far as even giving us 48 hours to look at this bill. President Obama had said that he would not pass -- he would not sign legislation that hadn't had at least five days, and yet the transparency, the openness wasn't seen in this legislation. And the result is a big- government, big-spending piece of legislation that is going to do very little to help our small businesses, help struggling middle-class families and create jobs.
REP. CANDICE MILLER (R-MI): You know, I come from Macomb County, Michigan. That is known as the home of the Reagan Democrats. And I think it could be argued that my region is as hard-hit economically as anyplace else in our great nation. And I will tell you, unlike some of my colleagues that were a hard yes on this vote or a hard right on this vote, this was not an easy vote for me. I had to dig down deep. In fact, yesterday, in the Detroit Free Press the editorial said, "What member of Congress from Michigan can vote against this economic stimulus?"
And so I'll tell you, I was very disappointed that I could not vote for the original House bill, because I wanted to get there. When the president -- President Obama first started talking about this economic stimulus, he said it was principally going to be focused on two things. Two things, tax cuts and massive infrastructure investment. But the bill that we just voted on in the House today is unrecognizable from what his stated goal was. And I was disappointed that it was not fixed in the Senate, and I was very disappointed that the conference did not fix this thing to help Michigan -- to help Michigan and to help my region.
And I'll just give you one example of what really got me going here this morning, when I couldn't read through that conference report -- because I can't read that fast, being from Michigan. But let me just say, you know, my state is a state of 10 million people. Ten million hard-working men and women. And this bill, I think, will give us approximately $7 billion.
And yet the Senate majority leader, as one of the conferees, put in $8 billion for a high-speed rail from Las Vegas to L.A. And some have said no, that's not an earmark, that it was discretionary.
Well, there's only one shovel-ready project in the entire country that that fits the bill, and that's that project.
And there was an amendment that was in the Senate version, made by Senator Mikulski -- which we were all very enthusiastic about in Michigan, with the auto industry being on its knees -- which would have allowed for sales tax and interest deduction for anyone who would buy a new automobile. And what was the cost of that? About $11 billion. And they, in the conference -- they got it in the Senate -- in the conference, it went from 11 billion (dollars) down to 2 billion (dollars).
I offered a motion to recommit today that essentially would have been the cost of the high-speed rail, to help the auto industry, and they said no. And I'll tell you what, they might be riding a high rail out in Las Vegas, but Michigan, we are getting railroaded. And that is why I voted no.
REP. : Go ahead. You go.
REP. : You go. We'll do boy-girl.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I just say, from one perspective, when you look at the vote today, you have found that there was one bipartisan vote on the floor. It was that this was not the right direction for America.
Now, Republicans, when they first came under the leadership of John Boehner, he said we were not going to be the party of "No." And he displayed that time and time again, where he sat down with this new president before he was even sworn in. He sat down with this president, this president said he wanted to have our ideas, so he put Eric Cantor in charge of a working group.
Mr. Cantor sat together, brought members from a bipartisan -- I mean from a microcosm of our caucus, and we sat there and worked hours on end to come up with ideas. We presented that to this president. But when we presented it to the president, Nancy Pelosi, our speaker, already introduced the bill, not allowing us to work together in the process.
I think, from one perspective, you saw that Republicans have an idea to move forward -- twice as many jobs, at half the cost. And we stand here ready today to continue to work with this president, when we can. We believe we want to move America forward, that we want to put people before politics. And that's what this Congress is going to be about.
REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R-NC): You've heard the tone here today is one of great disappointment, disappointment because we all wanted to do something for the American people, something that would not put generations into debt. That's what this bill does.
This is abrogating the responsibility of the Congress. We're giving up the responsibility to the next generation to take care of our needs. That is absolutely wrong. But we know there are Americans out there who are hurting.
Last night, I asked the chairmen of the Appropriations Committee and the Rules Committee to please show me how the spending in this bill translates into jobs. You know, I come from an academic background as well as a business background, and my husband always says to me when we spend money in our business, "Virginia, how is this going to generate income?"
When I was in the academic world, I had to prove that money I was going to spend or money that I did spend was going to produce results.
Mr. Obey could not tell me that. He said he couldn't even vouch for the numbers that are in here, because the numbers came from the White House. It is wrong of Congress to give up our responsibility and not be able to say to the American people, "We are passing legislation. We're reading the legislation. We know what we're doing." It is absolutely wrong.
And I think it's a cruel hoax on the American people that they have been led to believe that by passing this bill there are suddenly going to be millions of jobs out there, particularly for blue-collar workers who have lost their jobs. That is not the case. And I think that is the greatest sin that is being committed here, is that we are misleading -- or THEY are misleading the American people as to what the results are going to be.
We want to help the American people. We've offered to do that. We've offered a better alternative. And we have been rebuffed. That is unfortunate.
REP. MIKE PENCE (R-IN): Mike Pence, Indiana. House conference chairman.
This is not a good day for America. The American people are hurting. And today Congress missed a historic opportunity to pass legislation that would put our economy back on the road to recovery. Instead of coming together around time-honored principles of growth, Congress instead passed a so-called stimulus bill that is just simply a long wish list of big government spending that won't work. It won't create jobs. It won't stimulate this economy. And it may do more harm than good.
Millions of Americans are asking today, how will $2 billion to community organizing groups like ACORN create jobs? How will over a billion dollars to ration health care or purchase green golf carts put Americans back to work? And the suggestion that 13 bucks a week is the biggest middle-class tax cut in American history is nonsense.
Let me be clear on this point. This was not about Republicans saying no. Today's vote was about Republicans saying yes to solutions that will now, and have always been, the key to unlocking our economic growth. Republicans had a better solution: fast-acting tax relief for working families and small businesses that will create twice the jobs at half the cost.
Republicans long to see our nation's economy recover. We long to see families that are out of work go back to work. And we renew our commitment today, despite these disappointing days, to work with this president and with the leadership of this Congress to formulate legislation in the future that will work to put our economy back on a track to prosperity.
REP. BOEHNER: All right. Questions? Although I better -- I better move this before it falls off of here. Might hurt somebody.
Questions? Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry.
Q Majority leader --
REP. BOEHNER: No, I'm the Republican leader. (Laughter.)
Q -- sorry -- no --
REP. BOEHNER: I was a -- if I was the majority leader, we wouldn't have this bill on the floor today. (Laughter.)
Q You guys have complained that Democrats aren't including you guys on the ground floor of these discussions and therefore it wasn't bipartisan. They say you guys offered just tax cuts. And indeed, the substitute you guys offered was four-fifths -- four of the five planks were tax relief, (as opposed to the ?) unemployment. Who has further to go in being bipartisan, given kind of these two --
REP. BOEHNER: Listen, I've -- you've all seen me produce bipartisan bills over the years that I've been in Congress.
And the way you produce a bipartisan bill is, you sit down at the beginning and begin the process of talking to each other and building a product together.
That's the true way to get there. I've done it. I can do it again. And I think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle understand how you produce bipartisan legislation.
A lot of it happens in committee almost every day. And so and I've said it on the floor, the same way I've said it here. They know how to do it. It's just, there wasn't any will to do it in this case.
Q But they argue that they won the election. Why should it be a 50-50 proposition in terms of --
REP. BOEHNER: Nobody ever suggested it had to be 50-50. We understand they got the votes. But at the end of the day, our job here is to represent the American people. It's to do our best for the American people. And I think the product that we have today is not our best effort on behalf of American families and small businesses.
Q (Off mike.) Fifteen percent Republican registration, in need of stimulus infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina. Is that a good vote for Mr. Cao?
REP. BOEHNER: Listen, all of us have districts. All of us have to make decisions about whether this bill overall is the right thing for our constituents. I made my decision. He made his.
Q But how do you combat the assertion that you have become the party of no early on? Because if you're only voting for Republican ideas and against Democrat ideas, I mean, how do you --
REP. BOEHNER: We've had two big bills this year thus far. The children's health insurance bill and we've had the stimulus bill. And in both cases, we developed alternatives that we thought were better solutions for the American people, better solutions for American families and small businesses.
At the end of the day, if they're not willing to take any of our ideas, to work with us in any way, you can't blame us. They are the majority. And I always thought, being the majority, it was actually in the interest of the majority to be more bipartisan.
Q How big of a political risk do you think you're taking here, by having everyone vote against this? Because let's say the economy does recover.
(Cross talk.)
REP. BOEHNER: I think standing on principle and doing the right things for the right reasons, on behalf of your constituents, will never get you in trouble.
Thanks, everybody.
END.
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