Date: 2009-02-24
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. its interesting sitting on the floor listening to the speeches during this period of time. On the one hand. I listened to the gentleman from Virginia talk about a bipartisan approach to deal with our problem of fiscally irresponsibility and the load of debt that we are placing on our children and grandchildren. On the other hand. I did hear a gentleman from the other side of the aisle talk about why its Bushs fault. When I was in school. they were teaching us debate. We talked about the ad hominem argument. the personalization of the argument. Usually that meant that when you didnt have the facts you tried to make it personal. There was also discussion by a gentleman from the other side of the aisle about the fact that were finally going to be concerned about the people of America. as if those who disagree with you would be people who are not interested in Americans. Im not sure that gets us anywhere. As a matter of fact. I think that gets us nowhere. It is that kind of quasidebate which leads down the wrong path. We are without a doubt facing a very difficult economic situation. and as did others. I returned to my district to talk to constituents about that. I had a teletown hall where we had over 6.000 people on the line. and I listened to their comments. I also sent out a questionnaire by email. and thus far weve received over 1.800 responses. I thought it might be informative to tell this body the feelings of the people in my district. at least as reflected in this survey. although I realize it is not a scientific survey. In response to the question. what is the most immediate economic concern you face. overwhelmingly. 53 percent of the respondents said they were most concerned about declining value of retirement accounts. We ought to be very concerned about that. because if we send a message to the world that we are fiscally irresponsible. that more and more spending and more and more debt is the way to get out of the situation that we got into because of spending and debt. those retirement accounts are going to lose more value. We ought to be concerned about the future. as well as the immediate present. Secondly. in response to the question. what is the most important element of an economic stimulus package. the number one response was. tax cuts. Why? Because many of the American people do believe the argument that raising taxes in the midst of a recession doesnt make sense and that tax cuts. properly articulated. properly enforced. create a stimulus to the private sector. particularly the small- and mediumsized businesses where the jobs are really created. not the government sector. Secondly. the biggest response was. nothing. the economy is strongest when government does not interfere. And the third response was funding for infrastructure projects. And unfortunately. the percentage of money that goes to infrastructure projects is relatively small. as is the percentage that goes towards tax cuts. I The next question: Are you satisfied with the economic stimulus package Congress passed? Thirtyfour percent of the people in my district said. no. the details of the size and scope needed to be worked out. Perhaps they thought having less than 24 hours to look at a 1.076 page bill was inappropriate. The second largest response. 33 percent. was. no. Congress shouldnt have passed any stimulus package. Those are concerned that a stimulus package does not stimulate. And third. by a much. much smaller margin. yes. anything the government can do is better than nothing. The next question: I expect the worse of the economic crisis to be over withinand this is truly difficult to read because it said that 42 percent of the respondents thought it would take 24 months or more. Second largest response was 13 to 18 months by 21 percent. And then 17 percent believe it would be 19 to 24 months. In other words. the American people. at least reflected in my district by this survey. understand the seriousness and the depth of this economic difficulty. And lastly. I asked them: The economic crisis impact on me is such thatand the response. number one. was. I am okay right now. but Im worried about what will happen to me if the econbmy continues to get worse. 59 percent. Thirtythree percent of the people said. I will face tough decisions but I will survive. And less than 9 percent said. I do not know how I will make it through the time. Interesting thing about that response is the resiliency of the American people. They do believe. they do have faith that we will get out of this. but they believe that we will get out of it through .the ingenuity. the creativity. the sticktoitiveness of the work ethic of the American people. not government. While certain government programs might be able to assist. -we should not forget that the essence of the greatness of America lies in its people. not in its government. This government reflects its people. This government is one that was set up to protect the rights of the people but also to be protected against an overweening government. If we are to work ourselves out of this economy. we must rely on the people for their creativity and do nothing that impinges upon that.