On the recordMarch 24, 2010
I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I have to say I am confused. Now I am confused maybe because I am not on the Ways and Means Committee--I'm on the Appropriations Committee-- and on March 16 at 10 o'clock we had a hearing, and our special guest at the hearing was Secretary of the Treasury Geithner, Secretary of OMB Orszag, and the President's Economic Adviser, Ms. Romer. All of them said to the full committee the stimulus program is working. It is the greatest program. In fact, I thought they were going to start high-fiving and hugging each other right there in the committee, they were so excited about it. But now I am like you. You Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee, I kind of agree with you. It ain't working. We know that it is not working. That is why we are now debating the third stimulus jobs bill in the House. We had one a couple of weeks ago, we had one in December, and all it is is spend, spend, spend. The $862 billion stimulus program was supposed to keep unemployment from getting to 8 percent, and it is now pushing 10 percent. Of course it is not working.
