From the Union Leader. I think the bloom may be falling from this stinkbomb.
http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?...c-4a5976b88449
Quote:
The alleged "stimulus" bill passed by the U.S. House Wednesday night is a cynical fraud committed upon a trusting American people whose hopes politicians are cruelly exploiting.
We were told that the bill will get the economy moving by upgrading America's infrastructure. Of the $550 billion in new spending, only $30 billion goes to highway construction. Another $13.1 billion goes to other Department of Transportation spending and $20 billion to renovating public schools.
people from winding up on the streets. Only $11 billion goes to housing assistance.
We were told that it would help Americans who got laid off. Only $4.6 billion goes to employment and training programs, and $27 billion to expand unemployment benefits. (By contrast, the bill raises Medicaid spending by $89 billion.)
We were told that it had to be passed immediately. But the Congressional Budget Office notes that large portions of the spending cannot even begin until spring and will take three to eight years to complete.
The Wall Street Journal calculated that only 12 percent of the bill's provisions can accurately be called stimulative. The rest is simply being thrown at favored constituencies by Congress. The bill even includes a provision forbidding the use of foreign steel in the construction projects it funds. Does no one in Congress remember Smoot-Hawley?
Naturally, U.S. Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes giddily voted for this monstrosity. They did this only five months after voting to kill last summer's smaller bailout bill. What a difference a partisan change in the White House makes.
President Barack Obama can call this recession a national emergency all he wants, but that doesn't make this bill any better. By pushing an irresponsibly gargantuan bill that spends too much and stimulates too little, he squandered his first opportunity to show real bipartisan leadership. What a waste -- of money and goodwill.
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