Congressman Pete King

Rep. King: Stimulus Bill Needs to Focus on Infrastructure Spending and Tax Cuts

Congressman Peter King, who told the Daily News on February 13th that he voted against President Obama’s stimulus bill because "there's just too much spending, and it's too unfocused," released this statement on the economy…

“Our country is going through tough economic times which demand strong and innovative actions. Unfortunately President Obama’s proposals on stimulus legislation and the budget fall short of what we need and would actually make the situation worse.

We do need stimulus legislation. But we need a stimulus bill focused on infrastructure spending for the bridges, tunnels and highways and tax cuts for middle income families and small businesses. Unfortunately, the President’s bill (H.R. 1) allocated only 9.4% of the bill to highway and transportation infrastructure and only 18% for new tax relief. Rather then provide real stimulus, it expends vast amounts of money on extraneous projects.

My opposition to the bill was based on economic reality, not partisanship. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that by 2014 this legislation will actually decrease the economy and will reduce wages. It is not surprising then that Alice Rivlin, who was President Clinton’s Budget Director, also opposed H.R. 1.

This stimulus bill also weakens welfare reform legislation we enacted more than ten years ago to detect illegal immigrants who are attempting to obtain American jobs. Additionally, despite the campaign pledges which were made by President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, this bill was rushed through for a vote before there was any opportunity to read it.

I also opposed the President’s budget (H.Con. Res. 85) because it dramatically increases spending and raises taxes on investors, small businesses and energy. It makes absolutely so sense to raise taxes during a recession when we should be trying to provide incentives and create jobs. Combined with the large tax increases in the New York State budget, these two budgets will have a particularly devastating impact on Long Island. Our residents are already overtaxed. I assure you that I will not vote to increase your taxes.”