A Letter from my Congressman on the "Stimulus" Bill

I received another letter from my Congressman today and, since it included his thoughts on the "stimulus" bill (which did pass the House), I thought I would share it with you. I pray my Senators would listen to Congressman Akin's facts and wisdom.

Dear Bruce,

Thank you for your correspondence regarding H.R.1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It was good to hear from you and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, this legislation represents the largest spending increase ever foisted on the American people by Congress. Despite initial talk of a measured, infrastructure focused stimulus package, the Democrat majority has created a debt spending bill estimated to cost at least $825 billion. Worse yet, most of the money contained in the stimulus will not be spent soon enough to impact people who are struggling today.

I greatly appreciate the insight and concern of my fellow Missourians on the critical issues before the House of Representatives. An overwhelming majority of those who contacted my office asked me to oppose this spendthrift measure. When it came to the House floor on January 28th, I voted against it.

Even the Washington Post criticized the Democrat's spending bill, saying:

"Some in Congress and the new administration apparently see the country's present recession as an opportunity to change the federal government's spending priorities more generally or simply to reward loyal political constituencies."

Six hundred pages long and a top priority of the majority party, H.R. 1 already appears ineffective at its stated goal: adding stable new jobs to the economy, averting job loss, resolving the housing crisis and lifting the U.S. economy out of the current recession. I am more than willing to support an effective stimulus package, but I refuse to substitute doing "something" for doing the right thing.

To give you a sense of just how large the stimulus package is, the House-passed version is:

o Almost the size of Mexico's economy ($893 billion in 2007).
o 33.7% larger than all spending on Social Security
o 33.4% more than the defense budget.
o 24.6% more than federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid combined.

Additionally, allow me to list a few of my personal concerns with the Democrat's bill:

o It will cost $10,520 per family in debt spending. In fact, some economists say it would be cheaper to give every working family in America a one-year tax holiday.

o Only $26 Billion or 7% of the proposed stimulus funds will be spent in 2009.

o Only $30 Billion or 3 percent - throughout the life of the entire stimulus package would be directed towards "shovel ready" road and highway projects.

o The bill also circumvents the regular budget process by creating 32 new programs at a cost of $136 billion.

o It contains $16.4 billion in new spending for federal agencies - including office furniture at the Public Health Service.

o It spends $54 billion on 19 programs rated by the Office of Management and Budget as "ineffective" or "results not demonstrated." President Obama has said that we can no longer afford to be "squandering billions of tax dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness." Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi's House majority has chosen to put forward legislation that is inconsistent with the President's vision for "smarter" government.

Finally, I could not support H.R. 1 because I believe history demonstrates that when government removes billions of dollars from the economy in the name of "stimulus," the result is not a shortened recession but a prolonged depression.

Instead, I supported the Republican substitute measure on the House floor that would have created 6.2 million jobs and provided tax relief to small businesses and working families. In fact, in Missouri alone, the Republican alternative would have had the potential to create 128,000 jobs compared to 73,000 in the Democrat stimulus plan.

The Republican alternative included across-the-board tax cuts for all working American families in the 15% and 10% tax brackets. It also provided immediate tax cuts for small businesses which employ more than half of all American workers. In addition, the substitute would have extended unemployment benefits and eliminated income taxes on those benefits, allowing struggling Americans to keep the entire amount of their unemployment assistance while they are out of work. Unfortunately, the Republican alternative was defeated by a vote of 266-170 and the Democrat package passed by a vote of 244-188.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact my office. Please know that I will continue to work for positive legislation that benefits all Missourians.

It is a privilege to represent you and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me regarding any matter where I might be of assistance. I would also encourage you to visit my website, where you can find more information on current issues, share further thoughts with me via email and subscribe to my e-newsletter for updates on issues you care about.

Sincerely,
W. Todd Akin
Member of Congress