Bipartisan Experts Agree: Democrats' "Stimulus" Spending Scheme Won't Work
Washington Post Headline: "Critics Say Roads Projects Won't Jump-Start Economy"
Washington,
Oct 30 -
As the Washington Post story entitled “Critics Say Roads Projects Won’t Jump-Start Economy” demonstrates, experts from across the political spectrum agree that “infrastructure spending” masquerading as “economic stimulus” won’t help our economy:
|
“As congressional Democrats push for billions of dollars in new spending on roads, bridges and schools to create jobs and revive the economy, many economists are skeptical of the proposal, saying that public works spending is likely to trickle out too slowly to ease the effects of a recession.”
“‘Changes in infrastructure spending are not an effective method of creating jobs or providing short-run fiscal stimulus to the economy,’ economist Alan D. Viard told the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday. ‘As many economists have noted, timing lags make it difficult to deliver the stimulus at the time that it is needed.’”
“Viard is a former Bush administration economist now at the American Enterprise Institute. But he rattled off a list of other experts, ranging from those at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to key Democratic advisers, who have reached the same conclusion. Among them: two former Clinton administration economists who wrote in January that spending on infrastructure is among the ‘less effective options’ for forestalling recession.”
“‘In the past, infrastructure projects that were initiated as the economy started to weaken did not involve substantial amounts of spending until after the economy had recovered,’ said a report by Douglas W. Elmendorf and Jason Furman. Elemendorf is now advising House Democrats; Furman is chief economic adviser to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).”
|
Democrats in charge of Congress refused to join Republicans in reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help prevent an economic meltdown, refused to support an “all of the above” energy plan to create jobs and bring down prices, refused to curb job-killing lawsuits, and refused to enact pro-growth tax relief policies that create good-paying jobs. And now they’re proposing to raid taxpayers’ wallets for billions in additional spending on government programs – a pork-barrel spending spree masquerading as economic “stimulus.”
Non-partisan studies by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) have challenged the Democrats’ argument that additional highway spending will create jobs and boost the economy, saying such expenditures would likely just substitute federal dollars for state dollars. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) addressed this on a conference call on Tuesday:
|
“You have to remember that Congress, before we left, passed an $8 billion increase in the highway funds, in the highway bill. And what this is going to do is not only pick up the shortfall, but add more money to the infrastructure programs that we already have out there. … I just think that what we’re laying on the table will create jobs quicker. It will create more long-term jobs and a much healthier economy, short term and long term.”
|
Instead of asking taxpayers to bankroll $300 billion more in wasteful Washington spending, as Democrats have proposed, Congress should pass a pro-economic growth package that gives small businesses the tools they need to create jobs and gives workers and seniors the opportunity to keep more of what they earn and rebuild their retirement savings. Boehner has put forth a plan for economic growth, jobs, and rapid recovery that relies on tax relief for working families and small businesses instead of higher taxes and increased spending on government programs.
Poll after poll shows that this type of pro-growth package – not the massive slate of new spending proposed by Democrats – is what the American people support to get the economy back on track. With the American people firmly on their side, House Republicans will continue to stand up to Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Obama, and their free-spending Democratic allies in charge of Congress. Will Democrats finally abandon their plans to force taxpayers to foot the bill for their pork-laden “stimulus” sham and join Republicans in supporting a real plan to create jobs, rebuild 401(k)s, and get our economy moving again?
READ MORE:
