Cliff Stearns: “I just finished a hearing as chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Committee, and we had the administration up to…”

“I just finished a hearing as chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Committee, and we had the administration up to talk about some of the programs that they're handing out money on; and one of them is giving out money to large corporations and to unions for early retirement of the employees of for-profit corporations. So think about this. The United States Government is giving millions of dollars. In fact, they gave United Auto Workers $260 million towards their plan for early retirement for their workers. Now, when you think about it, these are corporations and unions and entities around this country who've actually settled in with a contract with their employees. Yet the government is stepping in and giving them money to help them so they can get to 2014. And they're running out of money. Obviously, they will run out of money if they give free money to these corporations. They're going to accept it. And in the end, taxpayers are going to foot the bill. In light of the fact we're losing $4 billion a day, why should taxpayers be giving out almost $5 billion to corporations that are very profitable to help their employees retire? ____________________”