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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. (R-SC) voted against the Democrat trillion dollar spending package, legislation laden with wasteful government spending that will neither stimulate the economy nor create the jobs Americans so desperately need. Following the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1), Congressman Brown made the following statement:
“With unemployment rising and our economy falling into recession, House Democrats have proposed a stimulus plan that is full of wasteful spending and contains only a small amount of the necessary infrastructure and job creation provisions that would stimulate our failing economy and get hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans back on their feet.
My Republican colleagues and I met with President Obama in hopes of conveying our plan for fast acting tax relief that will invigorate the resources and ingenuity of the American people and create sorely-needed jobs. Unfortunately, the bill that passed the House today represents a missed opportunity to stimulate our economy as it only devotes seven percent of the $825 billion for the infrastructure that would produce the millions of much needed jobs. According to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, a $90 billion infrastructure investment, would create or sustain 2.7 million jobs, a guarantee that no Democrat has been able to make with their plan.
House Republicans are offering a better solution, an economic recovery plan that will provide fast-acting tax relief to help the economy create 6.2 million new American jobs over the next two years. My colleagues and I hope that our major concerns with the Democrat stimulus plan and our ideas for a better plan are taken into account, and we look forward to working with President Obama and House Democrats to craft legislation that will truly protect the American taxpayer, generate jobs through infrastructure investment and help turn our economy in the right direction.”
In addition to voting against the Democrat proposal, Congressman Brown also voted in favor of Republican efforts to double the infrastructure spending in this bill. Had the action passed, Republicans would have been given the opportunity to add provisions into the stimulus bill which would have doubled the number of jobs created by the Democrat’s plan.
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