Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the partisan stimulus/tax hike bill and the need for Congress to act on bipartisan jobs legislation:

“I just want to make a couple of observations this morning about what’s going on in Washington at the moment, and what isn’t.

“What’s going on is that Democrats are obsessed for some reason with raising taxes.

“That’s the only possible way to explain their latest idea to impose a permanent tax hike on about 300,000 U.S. business owners, and then use the money to bail out cities and states that can’t pay their bills.

“I don’t know if Democrats have noticed, but Washington can’t pay its own bills right now.

“Think about it: the federal government spent $3.6 trillion dollars last fiscal year, a new all-time record.

“And in the wake of the single largest spending year in history, Democrats want to put together another bailout.

“Add up the projected deficits of all 50 states this year and you get $103 billion.

“What about Washington? We’re expected to run a deficit of $1.3 trillion.

“Washington needs to prove it can get its own house in order before it starts demanding more money from job creators and throwing together another bailout.

“This is the third time in three years the President’s asked us to bail out the states. How many more times — and how many more billions — before someone realizes it’s a bad idea?

“More bailouts aren’t going to solve this problem. They’ll just enable it.

“But the bottom line is this: Everybody knows the last thing you want to do in a jobs crisis is raise taxes.  It’s just common sense. The President has said as much himself.

“But for some reason he’s determined to keep trying anyway. And Republicans aren’t about to go along with it. So Democrat leaders in Congress have decided to do nothing instead. If they can’t get their tax hike, then they don’t want to do anything at all.

“And that’s why, rather than working with us on legislation that would get the government out of the way so the private sector can create jobs, including legislation that’s in the President’s own bill, they’ve choreographed a political sideshow this week.

“Here’s how it works.

“The President proposes a stimulus bill which he calls a jobs bill.

“Congress rejects it in a bipartisan way for very sensible and straightforward reasons.

“The President then goes on a bus tour to criticize Republicans for voting against this so-called jobs bill.

“Democrat leaders consult with the White House on breaking the same bill into smaller pieces.

“And how do they break it up? By identifying parts they know Republicans will oppose and adding on a tax hike just to make sure.

“Then, another bus tour or a press conference with the President complaining about Republicans again.

“Repeat for 13 months, in the hopes that Americans will forget that they’re all now living under the economic policies that were enacted during the first two years of the Obama administration.

“And hope for success. 

“In other words, they’re actually designing legislation to fail over on the other side, so they’ll have someone else to blame for the economy 13 months from now. That’s what’s going on in the Senate this week. 

“And what’s not going on?

“What’s not going on is the kind of bipartisan cooperation that Americans really want.

“The Majority Leader is out there telling people that Republicans are rooting for the economy to fail.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth. Look: if Republicans wanted the economy to fail, we’d all line right up behind the President’s economic policies, rather than opposing them.

“Because they haven’t solved this jobs crisis.

“So I think it’s time Democrats realize they were elected to lead, not to choreograph political theater.

“It’s completely preposterous at a time when 14 million Americans are looking for a job in this country for the President to be riding around on a bus saying we should raise taxes — on the very folks who create jobs.

“Think about that: We’ve got 14 million people out of work, and two self-identified conservatives for every liberal in this country, and the President’s out there doing his best Howard Dean impersonation. He’s completely out of touch.

“Let’s forget about tax hikes.

“Let’s drop the talking points about millionaires and billionaires.

“And let’s work together on bipartisan jobs legislation that’s designed to pass, not fail.

“Republican leadership in the House and the Republican Leadership here in the Senate has been crystal clear: we’re ready to work with the White House on legislation we can all agree on.

“The two parties did it last week on the trade bills. There are other areas where we can do the same thing.

“The House has voted on three bills this year — one as recently as last week — to roll back excessive regulations by bureaucrats in Washington that are destroying jobs and threatening to put even more Americans out of work.

“All three got solid bipartisan support.

“Let’s have those votes in the Senate, and show that we can work together to help businesses create jobs.

“Let’s park the campaign bus, put away the talking points, and do something to address this jobs crisis.

“The American people want action. The election’s 13 months away. Let’s do what we were elected to do.”