Kent Conrad: “Senator Baucus is absolutely right. There are some good provisions in this bill. They are necessary provisions. That is…”

“Senator Baucus is absolutely right. There are some good provisions in this bill. They are necessary provisions. That is what makes this vote so difficult. I have struggled with the question of how to vote. But, again, the press reports this morning said the Chairman of the Federal Reserve said an economic expansion is now underway. It goes on to report that many economists have concluded that the economy this quarter is growing at an annual rate of 4 percent. Now the House passes a recovery package. They are too late. This is the history of recovery packages. Every time in our history that we have tried to use fiscal stimulus, we have been too late. The centerpiece of this package is 3 years of bonus depreciation. Look, I am a strong supporter of bonus depreciation, but not for 3 years. That encourages people to wait. That makes no sense. This is digging the hole deeper because every penny of it is coming out of the Social Security trust fund--every penny. We are already in a deep hole for the entire next decade.”