COMMON SENSE: VOTE NO ON THE STIMULUS

It is not possible to be intellectually honest and vote for the multi-trillion dollar spending bill before Congress today as it exists in its current form. Since it will pass, mostly due to our current reality of uni-party government control, it is completely appropriate that it happens on Friday the 13th.

There are a number of reasons that it should not pass, some of which include:

1. As noted in the article that follows, most economists believe that this massive government spending program will do very little to stimulate our economy;

2. It is a uni-party work result, reflecting the wishes and desires of less than half of the American people. It is extremely partisan, no where near reflecting a bipartisan compromise as promised and promoted;

3. It is primarily a government spending program. History has taught us repeatedly that such programs do not stimulate the free market economy;

4. It has been pushed forward based upon fear and threats of catastrophic economic collapse. There is no such collapse pending and if there were, this spending legislation would not effectively prevent said collapse;

5. Much of what has been claimed all along is proving not to be true. For instance, it was promised that the details of this legislation would be posted on line for the world to see at least 48 hours prior to a final vote so that public feedback and input could be collected and reviewed. The vote is today and the promised information has never been posted. See this article SURPRISE;

6. Republicans, the minority party in Congress, have been fully locked out of the process of producing this legislation thereby corrupting our system of governing checks and balances;

7. The free market economy will always correct for excess or undue influence. It has been correcting for close to a year or more. This legislation will slow and thus delay that process, making for more economic pain rather than less;

8. The President claims that this legislation will create or save more than 3.5 million jobs. It most certainly will create some, mostly government employment along with some temporary private sector jobs as well. But not even half of that total number will be "created". The vast majority will fall into the "saved" category which, conveniently, cannot possibly be measured or documented. Thus it will be claimed without any evidence supporting the claim. Example: Obama said earlier this week that the Caterpillar Corporation will hire back some laid off workers due to this bill but that was publicly contradicted by the CEO of the company who stated that they may have to lay off even more people. Additionally and surprisingly, unemployment claims numbers were down last week without passage of this legislation. Some catastrophe;

9. Most importantly, this is an attempt to move us toward the failed European model of government. It has not worked there, it will not work here. In fact, this type of socialistic governance has never worked anywhere it has ever been attempted. It will fail.

Those in Congress who vote for the bill as it now stands will live in infamy. Most certainly, government needs to take action to stimulate the American economy. However, this public spending program will not gain that end. In fact, it will slow recovery.

Congress and this administration need to take considered action based upon what we know from experience works. This partisan political power grab is wrong. And it will not work.

Those who vote for it will own it forever.


SURPRISE! Dems Break Promise: Stimulus Bill to Floor Friday by Connie Hair (more by this author)

In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.“[I] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said. “The American people have a right to know what’s in this bill,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) told HUMAN EVENTS after the press conference.
“Every member of Congress -- Republicans and Democrats -- voted to post this bill on the internet for 48 hours, 48 hours ago. We’ll see if the Democrats keep their word.”Actually -- as of 5:15 pm, the Democrats had broken their word. The stimulus bill -- which we still haven’t seen -- will be released late tonight and will be brought up on the House floor at 9 am tomorrow.The following statement was released by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at 4:57 p.m.:"The House is scheduled to meet at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow and is expected to proceed directly to consideration of the American Recovery and Reinvestment conference report. The conference report text will be filed this evening, giving members enough time to review the conference report before voting on it tomorrow afternoon."Meanwhile, at an earlier presser Thursday, Pelosi -- while talking about legislation regarding school construction funds -- said it was vital to see the language of a bill before making decisions. ReadtheStimulus.org had the following quote:“With all of this you have to see the language. You said this --- I said that --- I understood it to be this way --- you know, we wanted to see it in writing and when we did that then we were able to go forward.""Around here language means a lot. Words weigh a ton and one person's understanding of a spoken description might vary from another's. We wanted to see it. And not only just I had to see it, I had to show it to my colleagues and my caucus. We wanted to take all the time that was necessary to make sure it was right."Congressional members are also exchanging barbs via the popular social network Twitter. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) twittered, "Don't know when we're going to vote. Will the no votes delay vote just because they can? Speed is important. They know that."House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) twittered back, “Those in favor of speed over commonsense may just be afraid of letting the People know what they are ramming through.”UPDATE: The Democrats finally made the bill's language available around 11 p.m. Thursday, approximately 10 hours before members meet Friday to consider the bill and 38 hours short of the time promised Americans to review the bill.

Connie Hair is a freelance writer, a former speechwriter for Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and a former media and coalitions advisor to the Senate Republican Conference.

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