111th Congress
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
March 5, 2009
Mr. Speaker:
We have all heard a great deal of rhetoric blaming the Bush administration for the nation’s economic woes, and I actually rise to join that chorus.
We all are painfully aware that the Bush administration increased spending twice as fast as it did under Bill Clinton. The Bush administration added $160 billion to the deficit through tax transfers with its first stimulus bill a year ago – despite warnings that it would do nothing to stimulate the economy. It didn’t.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
March 3, 2009
M. Speaker:
The Laffer Curve is a simple but elegant method of demonstrating how increasing taxes reduces economic productivity until a point of equilibrium is reached when further tax hikes actually reduce revenue.
If the tax rate is zero, tax revenues are zero. But if the tax rate is 100 percent, tax revenues also reach zero, because there’s no point in working.
House Chamber, Washington D.C.
March 3, 2009
M. Speaker:
I’d like to offer a word of caution about the law of unintended consequences.
Last week, this house passed the Administration’s proposal to allow homeowners to force banks to reduce the size of their mortgages and interest rates.
Millions of families – including my own – now owe more on our mortgages than our homes are worth – yet more than 90 percent of homeowners continue to make our mortgage payments in hopes of better days to come.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2009. M. Speaker: Sierra Pacific Industries just announced the closure of its sawmill in Quincy, California, throwing another 150 families out of work.
They made it clear that the recession wasn’t the cause but merely the catalyst. The real cause is that their regulatory costs – and litigation because of regulation – now exceeds their profit margin. Two thirds of their harvest is tied up as a result.
House Chambers, Washington D.C.
February 25, 2009
M. Speaker:
When it was announced that Randolph Churchill had been hospitalized to remove a benign tumor, a parliamentary wag commented, “What a pity it is to remove the only part of Randolph that isn’t malignant.”
As I look at this bill, I can only remark what a pity it is to remove the only part of the nation’s education system that actually works.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
February 12, 2009
M. Speaker:
I rise again to urge the majority to consider very carefully the damage they are doing to our nation’s economy by passing this unprecedented spending measure.
There is still time to heed the warnings from economists across the nation that this bill will do long-term damage to the growth of our nation’s economy for many years to come.
This is not mere economic theory: it is the consistent effect every time and everywhere that governments have tried to spend their way to prosperity.
February 10, 2009
Mme. Speaker:
Before we continue with a stimulus policy that has consistently failed to stimulate anything but government, I think the supporters of this program need to answer some very simple questions.
For example, the President himself told us yesterday that this $800 billion of new spending will produce up to four million new jobs. That comes to $200,000 per job.
Question: Why don’t we just send those four million lucky families a check for $100,000, and save half of what the President wants to spend – by his own numbers.
House Chamber, Washington D.C.
February 10, 2009
M. Speaker:
Benjamin Franklin warned us that “Passion governs, but she never governs wisely.”
As the Congress and the President rush to enact the latest in a long line of mega-spending bills, I think we would be well advised to spend a little more time on the dispassionate math of the matter.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
February 4, 2009
M. Speaker:
The mantra we hear from the Left is that government – rather than the productive sector – needs to create new jobs. According to our new President, the $825 billion spending bill will create 3 million new jobs.
That sounded pretty good to me at a time when our economy is hurting so badly, until I pulled out a pocket calculator and did the math. Three million new jobs for $825 billion. Ladies and Gentlemen, that comes to $275,000 per job!