The Stimulus Bill that Isn't

The Democrats are dancing in the aisles as the Republicans vote against the so-called Stimulus Bill. They are claiming that the Republicans don’t really care about the country—the middle class or lower class—only the rich and corporations. You know, the same old song-and-dance they have been playing for the past two years since they became the majority in Congress and still haven’t done anything more than pass useless legislation that has lead to the loss of more jobs. I am sure you can remember the minimum wage bill and what many said would happen when it was passed. Look around, ’cause the “I told you so” is in order.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have finally grown some “spine” (I’ll be nice) and are, hopefully, standing up for what they were originally—small government and tight fiscal policy—instead of the spend, spend, spend that they have shown for the past 6 years.

Another thing that is happening, and for certain the big spending Democrats like Pelosi and Reid don’t like, is that some in their own party are having time to actually think about what they are voting for and are beginning to see that this is a Spending Bill, not a Stimulus Bill, and that there is too much PORK included in the mess. Obama did not want this to happen because it slows down his dash for the “superman” title in the first 100 days. He keeps repeating, “imminent,” “needs to be done immediately,” “it is not something we need to hesitate in doing,” etc., etc., but it isn’t working, thankfully. The longer the Republicans and a few Democrats can keep stalling this mess, the more the give-away pork items will be removed, just like the contraceptive spending and the re-sodding of the mall area. Those were drops in the bucket compared to the items that need to be removed.

Let’s see: $1 billion for Amtrak, the failed federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, which is really a great job stimulator (said tongue-in-cheek); $400 million for global-warming research; and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. What are they going to do, put folks to work making “carbon spirit catchers”? There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

How about renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment and create few if any immediate jobs? Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to ... guess which party?

They have spent billions bailing out the auto industry, but that evidently wasn’t enough, so Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles. Congress also wants to spend $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities. Why? For part time employees to enjoy? The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million; I love the Smithsonian, too, but it’s not a job creator.

Another “stimulus” secret is that some $252 billion is for income-transfer payments—not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. It has been estimated that these so-called tax cuts will work out to be about $12 a week. Not much you can do on $12 a week, and the majority of folks who get it will spend it not on food, but on beer and cigarettes. Don’t believe me? Check out who spends the most on these items, especially cigarettes—the poor. There's $81 billion for Medicaid; $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits; $20 billion for food stamps; and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. If someone can tell me how this is a job creator and will stimulate the economy, I am waiting to hear it. It is a tooth fairy story and won’t fly, folks. Poor people do not create jobs, period, and those who pay no taxes certainly do nothing to deserve a refund. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren't job creators.

As for the promise of accountability, some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as “ineffective” or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the ten federal job-training programs, and many more. These are failed programs from Johnson’s Great Society program and need to be scuttled or seriously remade. The SBA is a joke; just ask anyone who has tried to deal with this level of bureaucrats.

Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That’s more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that “No recipient ... shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools.” Looks like the Democrats of Queen Pelosi and Sir Court Jester Reid want to cut out any non-union teachers or programs. Talk about a payback! We used to call it vote-buying, but now it is the norm.

Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There’s another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports, and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities. Then add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, which should be much higher because they are the ones who create jobs. Why not “stimulate” the “job creators,” and make it mandatory that the jobs be created in the U.S. for U.S. workers and that none of it can be used in overseas employment. Do that, and you have something that will work to improve the economy today.

By my estimate and from what I can find online, only $90 billion out of the proposed $825 billion stimulus package, or about 12 cents of every dollar, is designated for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And many of those projects aren't even likely to help the economy immediately.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living—or dead—Democratic interest group. As Queen Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit, and then in 2010 and 2012, they can explain how spending trillions of dollars did nothing but put us deeper in the hole.

****Here are the names of the Democrats who voted for their country and not the party when it came to this ill-conceived spending bill. They are to be congratulated. If you notice most of them do not represent heavily “entitlement dependent” districts. These few should be congratulated for putting America first.

Reps. Bobby Bright (Ala.), Parker Griffith (Ala.), Allen Boyd (Fla.), Walt Minnick (Id.), Brad Ellsworth (Ind.), Frank Kratovil (Md.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Gene Taylor (Miss.), Heath Shuler (N.C.), Paul Kanjorski (Pa.), and Jim Cooper (Tenn.).