If At First You Don't Succeed, Spend, Spend, Some More
Press Release
On what may be the last day of the session, Congressman Marsha Blackburn voted "no" on two egregious bills that she believes are fiscally irresponsible. The first, known as "Stimulus II," spends another $148 billion to further "stimulate" the economy. The bill follows "Stimulus I" which dedicated nearly $800 billion with the promise that unemployment wouldn't rise above 8%. Now, with unemployment hovering around 10% and almost 75% of the original Stimulus still unspent, Congress has decided we need to throw more good money after bad.
"This bill is your classic bad Washington idea. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are asking us to indulge them with nearly a hundred and fifty billion dollars in stimulus spending even though we still have hundreds of billions left in the original account. The unemployment numbers tell us that this program has not worked, and the massive debt it has accrued will be a stifling burden for the next generation. And yet Washington's only response is to cry for more and more spending. It just doesn't make any sense!"
"Stimulus II" takes $148 billion from funds repaid to the Troubled Asset Relief Bill (TARP) to fund the same programs that failed to produce jobs earlier this year. TARP repayments had originally been dedicated to reducing the federal debt.
AND SPEAKING OF DEBT in order to fund Washington's unprecedented 2009 spending, Congress today voted to increase the federal debt ceiling by over $200 billion. Congressman Blackburn was among a bi-partisan group who voted no.
"We have over $500 billion in unspent stimulus funds that should easily be transferred to cover Federal spending for the year. Instead, while Tennessee families are struggling with contracting credit, Washington voted itself a higher limit on the federal credit card and the taxpayer gets to foot the bill. Today, many working Tennessee families are worrying over collection calls from the bank. Our reckless Washington spending is going to force their children to worry about collection calls from China."
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