Wendy Sherman: “let me tell my colleagues a Christmas story. It is the dead of night. Congress is anxious to adjourn. Members can hear…”

“let me tell my colleagues a Christmas story. It is the dead of night. Congress is anxious to adjourn. Members can hear Christmas carols in their heads. Some are so anxious to leave town that they are willing to vote for a so-called stimulus bill, even though it was revealed just an hour ago--a quarter trillion dollar program that virtually none of us, or any of our staffs, have had a chance to fully analyze. Ah, but the tale goes on. One party, acting alone, ignoring Democrats even at a time when national crisis demands bipartisan and bicameral consultation. One party reveals a $250 billion program that they are understandably reluctant to debate under the regular rules, or to reveal in the light of day. Because, Mr. Speaker, two-thirds of the cost of this program, two-thirds of the transfers from the U.S. Treasury to the private sector, occur in fiscal years 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and 2006. Long after there is any perceived need for stimulus, we will be stimulating an economy which at that time may already be overstimulated. For this is not a stimulus bill, designed to deal with a short term economic downturn. Rather, it is a permanent transfer of enormous wealth to giant corporations, cynically disguised as an attempt to help the victims of September 11. Thank God for the United States Senate.”