Douglas Alexander: “We understand Americans are hurting, that our economy is in a slump. But we also understand that if we do not deal with…”

“We understand Americans are hurting, that our economy is in a slump. But we also understand that if we do not deal with the national debt, we will be doing the worst thing that we could ever do to the working men and women of America: that is, having long-term inflation where dollars do not amount to anything and you cannot buy anything. So our focus, instead of adding to the debt by over $1 trillion, is to reorient the stimulus package toward a true stimulus and fix housing first. That is what the 4-percent mortgage for creditworthy Americans is for. That is what the $15,000 tax credit for home buyers is for. That is what the Republican proposals to help people with foreclosures are for. That is part 1, fix housing first. Part 2 is let people keep more of their own money. Those are tax reductions. Then part 3 is take off this bill all of the spending items that do not have anything to do with creating jobs now.”