'Stimulus' a Terrible Gift for Valentine's Day

Press Release

'Stimulus' a terrible gift for Valentine's Day

"For Valentine's Day, the Congress gave the American people a Yugo but paid Rolls Royce prices, and adding insult to injury, the House put your ‘gift' on your credit card," Westmoreland said. "This is an Economic Valentine's Day Massacre."

Westmoreland said Democrats used the need for job creation into an excuse to fund a Christmas wish list for liberal social programs.

"The Republicans offered an alternative that would create twice the number of jobs at a fraction of the cost, according to the Obama administration's own economic formula," Westmoreland said. "This bill is not about creating jobs; it's about spending. Even if the administration is correct and this bill creates or saves 3 million new jobs, the bill costs $263,000 per job. Americans, I fear, have come to expect something for nothing. We all like free stuff, but the cost of this bill works out to $9,900 per family in this nation. The tab will come due.

"I know American businesses and American families are hurting. I know the federal government needs to act. But the Democrats have made a bad bill even worse by reducing the tax reduction in order to pay for more spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this legislation will increase this year's deficit to 10 percent of our gross domestic product. Listen to this statistic and think it over: In 2009, the United States will accumulate more debt than it did in its first 200 years of existence, even adjusted for inflation.

"My concern, and many economists share this concern, is that the additional debt burden will diminish our nation's economic future and hurt us in the long run."

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