On the recordMarch 10, 2010
I rise today to speak about a bipartisan, commonsense amendment that Members of this body endorsed yesterday by unanimous consent. My amendment is simple. It amends the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009--what I think most folks refer to commonly as the stimulus--to correct gaps in oversight and transparency. It provides much needed additional accountability for these public investments, again, that have come about through the stimulus package. I voted for the stimulus package. It was one of the first and toughest votes I cast as a Member of this body. The Recovery Act was not perfect, and reasonable people can debate whether it was necessary or whether it was ambitious enough. But I do think it is fair to say that the majority of the economists of all political stripes across most of the ideological spectrum now agree a year later that while imperfect, the stimulus package prevented our battered economy from sliding over a cliff last spring into what I think could have been a full-scale economic depression.
