U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, delivered the following remarks on the House floor today:
 
“I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his outstanding leadership. This is a challenging time in the life of this country. Families are hurting. Businesses in the city and on the farm are struggling. It’s the worst recession in the last twenty-five years and from Washington, D.C., failed economic policies.
 
“So what do you do after your big-government stimulus bill is a failure? Apparently the answer in this Congress is to pass another one. Really. Seriously. About a year and a half ago, with the support of this administration, Democrats in Congress passed a trillion dollar stimulus bill. Unemployment was at 7.7 percent. We were told we had to borrow about a trillion dollars from future generations of Americans for this liberal wish list of spending priorities or unemployment would go over 8 percent. Unemployment now, as we all now, is hovering at a painful 10 percent.
 
“But after the stimulus bill was passed and failed, we then came to March of this year and Democrats’ answer was to pass another stimulus bill, built on the same failed economic policies: the HIRE Act, $17.6 billion.
 
“And now, after stimulus bill and after son of stimulus bill, we are now considering grandson of stimulus and the American people are getting tired of it.
 
“Democrats literally want us to take the same failed economic policies of this administration of the last year and a half and spend another $102 billion. This grandson of stimulus is another last-minute, patched up together, hodge podge effort to say they’re working on jobs that’ll tack $54 billion onto our deficit and willl increase taxes by more than $47 billion. They throw on $23 billon in there for a Doc Fix with no offsets.
 
“This is what Democrats actually kept out of the recent health care legislation to keep it under its so-called trillion dollar number. It really doesn’t fix anything. As the Ranking Member of the Committee just said, we’ve got temporary extensions paid for with permanent tax increases. The American people are catching on.
 
“But, you know, this is what happens when a Democrat majority has no budget and no plan and no vision to get America working again. We’ve seen this movie before. Stimulus; fails. Son of stimulus; fails. And now as we all prepare to leave the Congress this weekend and remember those who fell defending our freedom at home and abroad, grandson of stimulus is on the floor.
 
“Look, it’s time for some new ideas here on the floor. I say to my colleagues, men and women that I respect all. You’ve all earned the right to be here. Why don’t we try something different? How about fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C. right now? Let’s do what John F. Kennedy did, let’s do what Ronald Reagan did. Across-the-board tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms. Get government under control, get government out of the way and this economy will come roaring back.”
 
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