Stimulus Package Report

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, like my colleague from Utah, I too wish I had something I could vote for, something I believe would stimulate the economy, would get the job done. But on this package, based on its size, based on its magnitude, and based on what I believe are fundamental flaws in it, like my colleague, I will also need to vote no.

The other day I was on a local radio station in Casper, WY, KTWO, ``Brian Scott in the Morning.'' Brian said: How do we know, how are we going to judge the success or failure of this bill? And I said, because this is statewide in Wyoming: Ultimately the people of America will judge the success or failure of this bill. If the people believe the Government is working for them, then it is going to be a success. But if, on the other hand, the people of America believe they are working for the Government because of the debt and they feel burdened by this package through increased taxes, through inflation, through less buying power, through more Government regulations, then people will judge this a failure. I want it to work. I want something that is going to make a difference in the lives of the people of Wyoming and the people of America.

Brian then specifically said: How will it work? How is the program actually going to work?

That is where I have to turn to the headlines and the sort of things Senator Bennett was talking about because I don't think anyone knows. The Members of this body don't know. The Members of the House don't know. The program is much too big. As Alice Rivlin, the former adviser to Senator Bill Clinton said, we should go with something half the size. Take a look and do the emergency spending now, and then let these other programs, whether it is energy, environment, education, health care--let's discuss those in a deliberate manner.

But the headlines from the Washington Post say, ``Trim to Stimulus Carves Into Goals For Job Creation.'' Are we not trying to create jobs? Isn't that what this is supposed to be all about? Not these backed-up projects people have had as their pet projects for years.

Another headline, same page: ``Despite Pledges, Package Has Some Pork.'' ``Sifting Through Details of the Deal,'' as the Members of this body are still waiting for the copies to come to the floor.

Investors Business Daily: ``Stimulus Bill Funds Programs Deemed `Ineffective' by [Office of Management and Budget].'' Page 1 headline: ``Stimulus Bill Funds Programs Deemed `Ineffective' by the [Office of Management and Budget].'' Then why are those programs still here? That was yesterday's Investors Business Daily.

Today's headline: ``$789.5 Bill Stimulus Coming, But Will It Revive Economy?''

We are going to spend all of this money, and every dollar we spend that does not actually work to contribute to reviving the economy is an extra dollar our children and their children are going to owe to foreign nations because we did not have the self-control to limit our spending now.

And then the front page of the Wall Street Journal today, the big question: ``Next Challenge on Stimulus: Spending All That Money.''

Senator Bennett talked about a very expensive proposal that is going to be spent, and the Wall Street Journal said it would probably take them about 8 years. By then, this economy is going to have changed dramatically.

This ``Next Challenge on Stimulus: Spending All That Money'' talks about the Department of Energy. What does it have to say?

[Department of Energy] is going to have to dramatically change how it does business if it hopes to push all this money out the door. .....They are going to need more people, more oversight and more freedom to waive regulations.

If they are going to spend all this money in a timely manner, because that is what this program is supposed to be--timely, temporary, and targeted--if they are going to be able to spend this money in a timely manner, they are going to have to waive regulations.

We will see how they do. This is the Department of Energy that has a history of delays and of letting costs spiral during the delay process. And that is today's Wall Street Journal.

Is there waste in this program? Absolutely. I think the people of Wyoming get it right. I have had telephone townhall meetings. I have been home every weekend for the past three weekends. But the Powell Tribune in Powell, WY, has a headline that says: ``Stimulus: Take time to get it right.''

If you live in Powell, WY, and you write for the paper in Powell, WY, you are not one to ever want to quote the New York Times. Yet in this editorial they do. They talk about the New York Times. They said: A New York Times editorial said, ``A bill that is merely better than nothing won't be nearly good enough.''

``A bill that is merely better than nothing won't be good enough. The economy is too fragile. And the numbers are too huge.''

What I think we should do is people should, once the bills get to their desks, pack them up, take them home with them, read them on the plane, read them in the car, read them on the train, read them as they go home, and then talk with people about what is in the bill, and then come back and vote on it. Then I think this Senate and the House would know what the people of America would say. Take the time to get it right. This bill is too big. It spends too much. The cost is too great. The risk is too high. And for somebody from Wyoming, it seems to me as though we are firing all our bullets at once, spending close to $1 trillion on a package that we don't know whether it is going to work, and if additional help is needed, we will have run out of ammunition.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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