[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11] [Senate] [Pages 14959-14960] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]RESPONSE TO THE RECESSION Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the American people have run out of patience with Washington's response to the recession. The first response was a so-called stimulus bill that was meant to keep unemployment under 8 percent. But after borrowing $1 trillion, unemployment is stuck well above 9 percent--some would argue closer to 10 percent. Now Democrats in Washington want to do it again. Later on today, our friends on the other side will vote for a summer sequel to the original stimulus. A year and a half after the first stimulus, the seemingly unlimited spending continues. You will recall the original stimulus was meant to be timely, targeted, and temporary. Yet here we are again, a year and a half later, and they are already coming back for more. The $100 billion they got for teachers the first time wasn't enough. Forget about the fact that more than a third of the original $100 billion hasn't even been spent and that none of the extra money they are asking for has to be used to retain teachers. Our friends on the other side are now in the business of paying for States to hire more workers even if they can't afford it on their own. Why? Why? Because it creates a permanent need for future State bailouts, at a time when we can least afford it. The same with health care spending: The original stimulus included about $90 billion in additional Medicaid spending--funds that were said to be timely, targeted, and temporary. Yet here we are, a year and a half later, and they want billions more. Let's be clear: This bill is a brazen attempt to funnel more money to public employee unions before an election at a moment of record deficits and debt, and to set the stage for a massive tax hike before the end of the year. It is time Democrats in Congress stop funneling billions of dollars to their favorite constituencies and asking the American people to pay for it with higher taxes. It is time they actually do something to address the jobs crisis in this country rather than using this [[Page 14960]] and every other crisis as an opportunity to advance their vision of government without bounds. Enough is enough. Democrats can say these bills are a response to the job crisis all they want, but the American people have already issued their verdict. The American people have seen the bitter results of the Democrats' so-called economic agenda. Every bill they pass only adds more burden on the people we need to get us out of this economic ditch. Whether it is the health care bill or financial regulation, every bill they pass seems to have as a prerequisite that it kill more jobs. If a bill doesn't kill jobs or make it harder to create them, they are not particularly interested. When the centerpiece of your jobs agenda is to pass a bill that adds another $34 billion to the national debt to get checks to millions of chronically unemployed Americans who can't find work in the climate you have created, then it is time for a different approach. The approach of the past year and a half isn't working. Unemployment has now been above 9 percent for more than a year. Yet Democrats can't seem to come up with anything other than to expand the size of government, transfer more Federal dollars to the States. Americans are tired of their tax dollars being spent on more government, more regulations, more taxes, and more burden. They want new solutions that actually enable businesses to recover. Those are the kinds of solutions Republicans are offering and that Americans want. ____________________