David Thomas: “I am glad we have begun this debate to do something that is necessary to help solve a problem we have in this country.…”

“I am glad we have begun this debate to do something that is necessary to help solve a problem we have in this country. Clearly, there will be differences in our views as to how we do this, and I guess that is no surprise. I think most all of us agree something has to be done to help our economy. We do not agree on what is the best way to do that, of course. There are pretty general differences in how it ought to be resolved. My friends on the other side of the aisle are more interested in sending out money on a short-term basis, sending checks to a bunch of people for 1 year; whereas we on this side are trying to find ways to create jobs, ways to change the economy so there is a future of prosperity rather than some kind of a Band-Aid that will surely wear out at the end of a year. So it is difficult, of course, and I understand that. But I do believe there is a clear difference between having a plan that will do something over time or simply doing something that will have an impact next week but will not continue. For example, if you are going to do something for businesses, they have to have some confidence that what they are doing is going to last for a while. People do not change the way they manage their business because there is going to be a 1-year kind of a change. I think that is so true. So you have to do something that is a little more permanent than that.”