Fight the stimulus bill
Posted by Richard on January 30, 2009
Want to know what's in the $819 billion stimulus bill the House passed? ReadTheStimulus.org has the entire 1588-page monstrosity on line in both PDF and text form, and it's searchable. They also have the Senate version, the House GOP alternative, the CBO report, and other related documents.
If you read even a tiny portion of this behemoth bill, you're ahead of almost all the 244 Democrats who passed it.
After you've had your fill of perusing this profligate pork-fest, head over to NoStimulus.com and sign the petition against it (sponsored by Americans for Prosperity ). It's commendably brief and to the point:
“Congress should not enact an expensive spending bill under the pretense of stimulus or recovery. We cannot spend our way to prosperity, and such an expansion of the federal government will put a crushing burden on taxpayers in the long-term.”
Then please make a donation to help fund this fight.
Don't think this is a quixotic quest. The opposition is mounting. In the House, Republicans showed uncharacteristic resolve and unanimity, with every single one of them voting no. And they even got eleven Democrats to vote with them — so in fact, the opposition to this bill was bipartisan! It was the pro vote that was entirely partisan.
It's looking possible that GOP Senators will be similarly united in opposition, and if the Republican leadership handles it competently, given the Senate rules of procedure, they may be able to block this thing.
Meanwhile, the American people seem to be turning against this abomination. The latest Rasmussen poll shows support for the Democratic spendfest has slipped to 42%, and support for a GOP all-tax-cut alternative is growing. And a new Opinion Dynamics poll found that:
Less than half (45 percent) of Americans think “Barack Obama’s proposed $825 billion dollar economic recovery plan” will help the economy. Twenty-nine percent think the plan will not make a difference, while 18 percent think it will hurt the economy. …
…Just 27 percent of Americans think elected officials in Washington are part of the solution when it comes to improving the economy, while 61 percent think they are part of the problem. …
…More Americans think the focus of an economic stimulus plan should be “cutting taxes” (50 percent) than "increasing government spending on new programs and infrastructure projects” (29 percent). …
Contact your senators, sign the petition, make a donation, write a letter to the editor — if we want to avoid Carter II or worse, we've got to stop this thing!
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