Stimulus Mistake

Floor Speech

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, last week marked 1 year since the passage of the $862 billion so-called stimulus bill, a bill that was supposed to keep unemployment below 8 percent, a bill that was supposed to boost the economy and private sector job creation, a bill completely paid for with borrowed money in a time of ballooning deficits. We have not seen the broad benefits promised by the stimulus bill, but we will soon have to pay the price for this borrowing and spending.

I would encourage all of my colleagues to turn to page A19 in today's Wall Street Journal and read about the true economic cost of the stimulus bill. According to Harvard economist Robert Barro, over 5 years the stimulus package creates an extra $600 billion in public spending, but at the cost of $900 billion in private expenditures. We spent money that we didn't have, and for each dollar spent, we will have to pay back $1.50 in higher taxes. Mr. Barro sums it up by saying, ``The 2009 stimulus bill was a mistake.''

We need to focus on private sector job growth, not borrowing for more government spending

Source