On the recordMarch 4, 2010
First of all, let me say to the majority, I am glad you have offset this money. I think that is a significant step for both parties, to have a spending bill offset. So I want to get that out of the way. Having said that, I have got to say that I am very leery of another government spending program to address jobs. We are here because last year we spent nearly--well, we did spend $800 billion on a stimulus program that was supposed to keep us from going to 8 percent unemployment. Now we are at 10 percent unemployment. The stimulus program before just added 31 brand new Federal programs and increased spending. I am ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, and spending in the USDA has gone up 26 percent. At some point we are going to figure out the Federal Government doesn't have the solution for everything. This is not our only stimulus proposal or jobs proposal. In May of 2008, we had a $168 billion stimulus program that did not work. In March of 2008, the Federal Reserve said, well, we are going to shore up Wall Street with Bear Stearns, $29 billion. In July of 2008, the Democrat Congress and President Bush came in with a $200 billion bailout of Fannie Mae in order to shore up real estate. And not to be outdone, the Federal Reserve weighed back in a month later with the AIG bailout, $85 billion, now up to $140 billion, that was supposed to avert financial collapse, and yet it did not. And then in October of 2008, we had a $700 billion TARP bill.
