On the recordJuly 29, 2010
Mr. Chairman, first of all, I voted against the bank bailout, the TARP bailout. If my memory serves me correctly, the gentleman voted for that proposal. Second, the chairman's comments about how this is such a dramatic cut is a great example of how out of touch this town is with the American people. All this amendment does is say let's spend what we spent just 2 years ago, in 2008. Go talk to average Americans. They think that's probably something the Federal Government could do--spend what we were spending 2 years ago. Also, remember that this bill is a 38 percent increase over 2008. That's on top of the transportation spending that was in the stimulus bill. So it's even bigger than 38 percent, this increase over 2008. Finally, I would say this: If big government spending, if big government taxation, if big government regulation were going to get us out of this economic mess, well, heck, we'd have been out of it a long time ago because that's all this government has been doing for 2 years. How bad does it have to get before we can begin to reduce some spending around here? Do we have to have a $2 trillion deficit? Do we have to get to $30 trillion in debt? I mean, how bad does it have to get before we can start to do those things that make sense and that will guarantee a prosperous future for our kids and our grandkids?





