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Congressional Budget Office: Dems' Spending Plan Won't Lead to a Rapid Economic Recovery
House GOP Leaders Request Meeting with President Obama to Discuss Republicans' Plans for Rebuilding the Economy
Washington, Jan 21 - As leaders in Washington return to work on a plan to get our economy moving again, the massive spending package proposed last week by congressional Democrats has come under intense scrutiny from an unexpected place – the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Earlier this week, CBO issued an analysis casting significant doubt on whether the congressional Democrats’ spending plan will actually have an immediate impact on the economy – the true test of any economic recovery proposal. The Associated Press reports:
“It will take years before an infrastructure spending program proposed by President-elect Barack Obama will boost the economy, according to congressional economists.
“The findings, released to lawmakers Sunday, call into question the effectiveness of congressional Democrats' efforts to pump up the economy through old-fashioned public works projects like roads, bridges and repairs of public housing.”
Here’s some more of what CBO discovered about the congressional Democrats’ spending plan, according to the Associated Press:
- Only seven percent – or $26 billion out of $274 billion – of the plan’s spending on infrastructure project would be delivered into the economy by the end of this budget year in September.
- Just one in seven dollars of a massive $18.5 billion expenditure on “energy efficiency” and “renewable energy programs” would be spent within the next 18 months.
- Plans to bring broadband Internet service to rural and underserved areas will take years to implement, and only 25 percent of clean drinking water projects can be completed by October 2010.
The Associated Press isn’t alone. Bloomberg News today published a story titled, “Much of Stimulus Won’t Be Spent Before 2011, CBO Says,” and the Washington Post published a similar piece titled, “Stimulus Projects May Be Slow, CBO Says.”
With the congressional Democrats’ spending plan exposed, House Republican leaders today wrote to President Obama requesting a meeting tomorrow to discuss their principles for an economic recovery package. The GOP proposals have been developed by an Economic Recovery Working Group chaired by Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) – a panel that has heard from experts and deliberated for the past several weeks, after the President requested Republican perspectives in a meeting earlier this month.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) highlighted the letter to President Obama in a news conference earlier today:
“We want to sit down with the President and talk about our ideas, because it’s clear that trying to get money back into the economy quickly, to preserve jobs and to create jobs, has to be the goal. And fast-acting tax relief, we believe is the best way to do that.
“When it comes to slow-moving government spending programs, it’s clear that it doesn’t create the jobs or preserve the jobs that need to happen.
“So we’re looking forward to hearing from the President. We’d like to sit down with him, to walk through this, because I think we all share the same goals.”
It has become clear that the plan proposed by congressional Democrats will be woefully insufficient in spurring the economic recovery Democratic leaders are promising. With that in mind, will President Obama and his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill consider the House Republicans’ plans for fast-acting tax relief for families and small businesses – not slow-moving and wasteful government spending – to get our economy moving again and create new jobs on behalf of the American people?
READ MORE:
•GOP Leaders Request Meeting Tomorrow with President Obama to Present House GOP Economic Stimulus Solutions (1/21/2009)
House GOP Leaders Request Meeting with President Obama to Discuss Republicans' Plans for Rebuilding the Economy
Washington, Jan 21 - As leaders in Washington return to work on a plan to get our economy moving again, the massive spending package proposed last week by congressional Democrats has come under intense scrutiny from an unexpected place – the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Earlier this week, CBO issued an analysis casting significant doubt on whether the congressional Democrats’ spending plan will actually have an immediate impact on the economy – the true test of any economic recovery proposal. The Associated Press reports:
“It will take years before an infrastructure spending program proposed by President-elect Barack Obama will boost the economy, according to congressional economists.
“The findings, released to lawmakers Sunday, call into question the effectiveness of congressional Democrats' efforts to pump up the economy through old-fashioned public works projects like roads, bridges and repairs of public housing.”
Here’s some more of what CBO discovered about the congressional Democrats’ spending plan, according to the Associated Press:
- Only seven percent – or $26 billion out of $274 billion – of the plan’s spending on infrastructure project would be delivered into the economy by the end of this budget year in September.
- Just one in seven dollars of a massive $18.5 billion expenditure on “energy efficiency” and “renewable energy programs” would be spent within the next 18 months.
- Plans to bring broadband Internet service to rural and underserved areas will take years to implement, and only 25 percent of clean drinking water projects can be completed by October 2010.
The Associated Press isn’t alone. Bloomberg News today published a story titled, “Much of Stimulus Won’t Be Spent Before 2011, CBO Says,” and the Washington Post published a similar piece titled, “Stimulus Projects May Be Slow, CBO Says.”
With the congressional Democrats’ spending plan exposed, House Republican leaders today wrote to President Obama requesting a meeting tomorrow to discuss their principles for an economic recovery package. The GOP proposals have been developed by an Economic Recovery Working Group chaired by Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) – a panel that has heard from experts and deliberated for the past several weeks, after the President requested Republican perspectives in a meeting earlier this month.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) highlighted the letter to President Obama in a news conference earlier today:
“We want to sit down with the President and talk about our ideas, because it’s clear that trying to get money back into the economy quickly, to preserve jobs and to create jobs, has to be the goal. And fast-acting tax relief, we believe is the best way to do that.
“When it comes to slow-moving government spending programs, it’s clear that it doesn’t create the jobs or preserve the jobs that need to happen.
“So we’re looking forward to hearing from the President. We’d like to sit down with him, to walk through this, because I think we all share the same goals.”
It has become clear that the plan proposed by congressional Democrats will be woefully insufficient in spurring the economic recovery Democratic leaders are promising. With that in mind, will President Obama and his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill consider the House Republicans’ plans for fast-acting tax relief for families and small businesses – not slow-moving and wasteful government spending – to get our economy moving again and create new jobs on behalf of the American people?
READ MORE:
•GOP Leaders Request Meeting Tomorrow with President Obama to Present House GOP Economic Stimulus Solutions (1/21/2009)
