Economic Stimulus Act of 2008

ECONOMIC STIMULUS ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - February 07, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, let me thank my colleague for his very nice words and thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked diligently to get this bill passed.

This economic growth package is an important victory for middle-class American families and small businesses. With the rising costs of energy, health care, college, housing and taxes, we put a real strain on the family budget. But the American people want us to work together to provide solutions to these problems. And I think this bill begins to move us in the right direction.

The bipartisan measure will help our economy get moving in the quickest and most effective way possible. It puts money back in the hands of middle-class American families. It will give businesses incentives to create new jobs and help grow our economy. And I think the package we have before us also clearly is a genuine compromise. Republicans gave a little, Democrats gave a little, the House gave a little, and the Senate gave a little. But perhaps most importantly, it is simple and it is straightforward. And it does not increase taxes or increase unrelated spending. In other words, it will empower individuals, not the Federal Government, to help grow our economy.

With this short-term growth package behind us, I think it is now critical that we focus on the longer term economic future of our country. I think that raising taxes in this environment would be the worst thing that we could do. I think that we need to begin to focus on how we make the tax cuts that we put in place earlier this year, earlier this decade, how we make them permanent. What do we do about the corporate tax rate that is driving American businesses out of the U.S.? We need to have a corporate tax rate that helps keep American businesses here. There is one thing that we really can do to help ourselves, and that is really to put our arms around spending, especially wasteful spending, and put a stop to it. We have got to get our fiscal house in order.

Many Americans, I think correctly, believe that Washington is broken. And I am here tonight to say that Washington does have its share of problems. And I am hopeful that this agreement we have been able to come to will help us on a path that shows the American people that we understand the problems that we have here in Washington and that we can, in fact, work together to solve the problems the American people sent us here to solve.

I couldn't finish this without also saying something very nice about our Speaker. Over the course of last year, the Speaker and I didn't have a policy conversation. I can tell you that we have had about 25 over the last several weeks. And for the health of our institution, I think it is good to come together and find common ground where we can. And I am glad that we were able to find common ground on this economic growth package, and I am hopeful that we will continue to try to find places where we can work together to solve problems that the American people expect us to solve.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source