So-Called "Modest Differences"

President Obama is urging Senators to rush through the process of appropriating $900 billion toward alleged economic stimulus. He told the Washington Post, "But what we can't do is let very modest differences get in the way of the overall package moving forward swiftly."

If we are going to put American taxpayers on the hook for nearly a trillion dollars, we should probably take some time to think about how we are spending the money. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office has already confirmed that a large percentage of the money spent in this bill will not filter into the economy until years have passed. In other words, there is no earthly reason to rush through a decision and process as important as this one.

Republicans in the House and the Senate have done their best to encourage President Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill to consider Republican ideas in the package. Last week, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx passed on news of Congressional Republicans' plan for a smarter, simpler stimulus. She said, "North Carolina’s families and job-creating small businesses are facing unprecedented challenges. My Republican colleagues and I have proposed an Economic Recovery Plan that will actually create jobs for the North Carolinians. We believe that the focus of any stimulus package must be on helping working families and small businesses. I hope that you will visit this website and learn more about the House Republican Economic Recovery Plan.”

You can view the plan here.

The Republican plan will create twice the jobs at half the price by investing less in government programs and more in American families and small businesses. As you will see, there are vast differences between the two approaches to stimulus. These differences are of philosophy, of trust, and of confidence. Does our philosophy for stimulus call for short-term, time-limited, project-related jobs created by government or does it call for long-term, secure, strong jobs created by our businesses and entrepreneurs? Do we trust the government to take care of our needs and rescue us in times of trouble or do we trust in self-reliance, personal responsibility, and the perserverance of the American worker? Do we have confidence in D.C. politicians to create the jobs we need and decide how best to spend our money to do so or do we have confidence in our neighbors and hometown employers to create the capital necessary to get the economy going again when government gets out of the way?

These are the differences between the parties and they are anything but "modest."