Pick your own debate 3!

The Stimulus Plan is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org... is the U.S. law passed in February for the announced purpose of stimulating the economy. The Stimulus Plan is bad legislation because: 1. The money is spent too slowly to provide needed immediate stimulus to he economy. To be "stimulus" the money must be spent quickly so it gets into the economy while it is needed. A fraction of the stimulus money is slated for tax cuts, but the bulk of it is reserved for the alleged "shovel ready projects" that were in fact not ready. The Congressional Budget Office told Congress ahead of time that the money would not be spent quickly, "Assuming enactment in mid-February, CBO estimates that the bill would increase outlays by $93 billion during the remaining several months of fiscal year 2009, by $225 billion in fiscal year 2010 (which begins on October 1), by $159 billion in 2011, and by a total of $604 billion over the 2009-2019 period." http://econompicdata.blogspot.com... So only $93 billion of the $787 billion was planned for FY 2009, when it would actually act as stimulus. The government claims $158 billion was "allocated" in FY 2009 http://blogs.abcnews.com..., but that doesn't say how much is actually spent. X dollars may be allocated to build a bridge, but there is no stimulus to the economy until the money actually arrives in someone's pocket. Even all $158 billion were actually spent, it would not be "stimulus" in proportion to a $787 billion package. 2. The legislation requires that government pay union wages for Stimulus Plan projects. This means that 30% to 50% fewer projects could be funded and 30% to 50% less employment than if this restriction were not imposed. "Los Angeles County officials who received $8 million in Community Development Block Grant money to weatherize homes for low-income people said they typically bid the job low and pay about $15 an hour for a worker to caulk windows. However, under union scale, that job pays $25 an hour and $5 in benefits, so instead of repairing 100 homes, they might do 50 homes for the same price." http://www.foxnews.com...... 3. The legislation is used to discourage state governments from cutting spending, which states ought to do to meet the financial crisis. "The Obama administration warned states it may withhold millions of dollars if they use stimulus money to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools." http://www.usatoday.com... This is in part a pay off to unions who supported Obama. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com... 4. The money is going unfairly to Obama supporters. "Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows." http://www.usatoday.com... 5. Obama promised that the bill would be pork free, but the legislation spends money foolishly on unneeded pork barrel projects. "Veronique De Rugy, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center ... argues that the bill is overflowing not with needed infrastructure spending, but with hundreds of billions in pork." http://www.usnews.com... The article goes on to cite examples. 6. Most of the money has gone to government jobs, specifically to pay off unionized teachers whose unions donate heavily to Democrats. "Of the 640,329 jobs cited today, White House officials said 80,000 were in the construction sector and more than half -- 325,000 -- were education jobs, despite President Obama's claim in January that 90 percent of the stimulus jobs would be in the private sector." http://blogs.abcnews.com... 7. The legislation is not being accurately tracked or accounted n recovery.gov as promised. The errors include jobs created in non-existent Congressional districts, and absurd errors in attributing jobs created. http://www.lvrj.com... 8. The Stimulus Plan did not meet its announced goal of keeping unemployment below 8% Unemployment has risen well above 10% http://blog.heritage.org... ---------------- The Stimulus Plan was bad legislation rushed through under false pretenses. It was claimed to be needed to provide immediate stimulus to the economy. The resolution is affirmed.