Gov. Rick Perry has long been a taxpayer advocate.
This week, he wrote a letter to President Barack Obama in response to stipulations in the $787 billion stimulus package. "On behalf of the people of Texas, please allow this letter to certify that we will accept the funds in H.R. 1 and use them to promote economic growth and create jobs in a fiscally responsible manner that is in the best interest of Texas taxpayers," Perry said. "I remain opposed to using these funds to expand existing government programs, burdening the state with ongoing expenditures long after the funding has dried up."
Thanks for protecting Texas taxpayers, Gov. Perry! Long after the “stimulus” money is gone, we’ll be paying for it. We should not also be paying for government programs it could be used to create or expand.
You tell ‘em, Gov Perry! Read the letter here:
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/11969/
Friday, February 20, 2009
Groaning for freedom
A Dallas Morning News editorial of 2/19 complains that what I consider a wise rejection of a statewide smoking ban by the Texas Legislature in years past was caused by the presence of too many caveats and exceptions -- and that the smoking ban legislation developing in this session should be more uniform.
I don’t smoke and I love freedom and respect property rights. I respect the property owner/business owner’s right to post a sign “no smoking” and to refuse to serve people who smoke. And if that is profitable, nonsmoking venues will proliferate. I don’t see that happening.
A big problem with the DMN editorial statement, and the smoking ban proposal itself, is that the businesses affected are not uniform. Restaurant patrons buy more food than drinks while owners of bars depend on beverage sales for most of their income. And there is no question that up to 50% of all bar patrons are smokers — not so many in restaurants.
Don’t get me wrong. A statewide smoking ban is also a reckless expansion of government, tearing away at private property rights of owners and the individual freedom of patrons. But, I strongly uphold the right of bar and restaurants owners to go smoke-free -- without government intervention.
Are non-smokers too stupid to select establishments which don’t allow smoking? If so, who will walk us across the street so we don’t get run over?
If elected officials want to truly represent these small businesses well, they should not even think about taking away a significant source of income for thousands of Texas bar and tavern owners during one of the worst recessions of our lifetime.
So even if the DMN doesn’t respect property rights, individual freedom and consumer choice, some of us recognize appreciate liberty. I’m not ready to turn the lights out on the Statue of Liberty just yet. – Peggy Venable (a “groaner” by DMN editorial standards)
The DMN editorial
The groans of exasperation are audible from smokers and civil libertarians as the Legislature moves closer to passing a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. Groaners say businesses should be able to set smoking rules for themselves, based on what drives business.
But what if it turned out that affected business owners actually agree with this law? The Texas Restaurant Association now says that a statewide ban is a good idea. When a 5,000-member group representing a $34 billion industry says it supports a smoking ban, it's time for lawmakers to take notice.
The lack of statewide uniformity has created a hodgepodge of ordinances among the 28 Texas cities that ban smoking and those that don't. It confuses patrons and leaves some business owners worrying about losing customers to smoking establishments up the road.
With this proposed law, the same ban would apply everywhere. It ends the guesswork.
Lawmakers must resist heavy lobbying by the tobacco interests fighting this bill. A similar bill in 2007 failed after it became so laden with caveats and exceptions that it threatened to weaken anti-smoking laws already on the books.
The proposed ban would outlaw smoking in bars, restaurants and all indoor public places, as well as at outdoor sporting or music events and within 15 feet of public building entrances.
Smokers complain that this bill tramples on their right to light up, which they think trumps non-smokers' right to eat, drink, socialize and breathe free of secondhand smoke. What smokers really demand is the right not to be inconvenienced. Sorry, but the time has come for you to step outside if you want to foul the air.
Secondhand smoke is both an annoyance and a serious public health threat, according to the 2006 surgeon general's report. Secondhand smoke kills an estimated 53,000 people a year. Numerous surveys indicate that most Texans support a statewide smoking ban.
It's time for the Legislature to stand up to the tobacco lobby and stand for Texans who want to breathe freely and live longer.
I don’t smoke and I love freedom and respect property rights. I respect the property owner/business owner’s right to post a sign “no smoking” and to refuse to serve people who smoke. And if that is profitable, nonsmoking venues will proliferate. I don’t see that happening.
A big problem with the DMN editorial statement, and the smoking ban proposal itself, is that the businesses affected are not uniform. Restaurant patrons buy more food than drinks while owners of bars depend on beverage sales for most of their income. And there is no question that up to 50% of all bar patrons are smokers — not so many in restaurants.
Don’t get me wrong. A statewide smoking ban is also a reckless expansion of government, tearing away at private property rights of owners and the individual freedom of patrons. But, I strongly uphold the right of bar and restaurants owners to go smoke-free -- without government intervention.
Are non-smokers too stupid to select establishments which don’t allow smoking? If so, who will walk us across the street so we don’t get run over?
If elected officials want to truly represent these small businesses well, they should not even think about taking away a significant source of income for thousands of Texas bar and tavern owners during one of the worst recessions of our lifetime.
So even if the DMN doesn’t respect property rights, individual freedom and consumer choice, some of us recognize appreciate liberty. I’m not ready to turn the lights out on the Statue of Liberty just yet. – Peggy Venable (a “groaner” by DMN editorial standards)
The DMN editorial
The groans of exasperation are audible from smokers and civil libertarians as the Legislature moves closer to passing a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. Groaners say businesses should be able to set smoking rules for themselves, based on what drives business.
But what if it turned out that affected business owners actually agree with this law? The Texas Restaurant Association now says that a statewide ban is a good idea. When a 5,000-member group representing a $34 billion industry says it supports a smoking ban, it's time for lawmakers to take notice.
The lack of statewide uniformity has created a hodgepodge of ordinances among the 28 Texas cities that ban smoking and those that don't. It confuses patrons and leaves some business owners worrying about losing customers to smoking establishments up the road.
With this proposed law, the same ban would apply everywhere. It ends the guesswork.
Lawmakers must resist heavy lobbying by the tobacco interests fighting this bill. A similar bill in 2007 failed after it became so laden with caveats and exceptions that it threatened to weaken anti-smoking laws already on the books.
The proposed ban would outlaw smoking in bars, restaurants and all indoor public places, as well as at outdoor sporting or music events and within 15 feet of public building entrances.
Smokers complain that this bill tramples on their right to light up, which they think trumps non-smokers' right to eat, drink, socialize and breathe free of secondhand smoke. What smokers really demand is the right not to be inconvenienced. Sorry, but the time has come for you to step outside if you want to foul the air.
Secondhand smoke is both an annoyance and a serious public health threat, according to the 2006 surgeon general's report. Secondhand smoke kills an estimated 53,000 people a year. Numerous surveys indicate that most Texans support a statewide smoking ban.
It's time for the Legislature to stand up to the tobacco lobby and stand for Texans who want to breathe freely and live longer.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
City of Dallas doesn't want voters' input
We support the No Taxpayer Hotel group in Dallas.
This is from the freedom-fighers in Dallas (the city facing a $100 million shortfall) who are working to keep the City Council honest -- and let voters decide if they want a taxpayer-funded convention center hotel:
On Wednesday, our City Council voted to approve development and operating agreements for the proposed, $550,000,000 convention center hotel. With less than 70 days until voting begins, the City continued their effort to ensure the taxpayers who are ultimately responsible for the debt, are completely excluded from the process. Discussion regarding the agreements was conducted behind closed doors and the terms are being kept hidden from the public.
The decision to move forward with the hotel despite a pending vote came just two days after the City Manager announced Dallas was facing a $100,000,000 budget shortfall. Furthermore, St. Louis was forced to sell its convention center hotel at foreclosure auction last week. (The proposed hotel Dallas hotel is the same size as St. Louis' hotel, yet several hundred million dollars more expensive).
We encourage you to share these recent developments with your friends and neighbors and ask them to sign up on our website. Only with your help can we make sure the Dallas taxpayers who will assume $550,000,000 in new debt are able to vote on the hotel.
You can help. Contact your City Council Member and the Mayor and let them know you think the taxpayer funded hotel should be stopped.
go to: http://www.notaxpayerhotel.com/ for more information and to sign up.
This is from the freedom-fighers in Dallas (the city facing a $100 million shortfall) who are working to keep the City Council honest -- and let voters decide if they want a taxpayer-funded convention center hotel:
On Wednesday, our City Council voted to approve development and operating agreements for the proposed, $550,000,000 convention center hotel. With less than 70 days until voting begins, the City continued their effort to ensure the taxpayers who are ultimately responsible for the debt, are completely excluded from the process. Discussion regarding the agreements was conducted behind closed doors and the terms are being kept hidden from the public.
The decision to move forward with the hotel despite a pending vote came just two days after the City Manager announced Dallas was facing a $100,000,000 budget shortfall. Furthermore, St. Louis was forced to sell its convention center hotel at foreclosure auction last week. (The proposed hotel Dallas hotel is the same size as St. Louis' hotel, yet several hundred million dollars more expensive).
We encourage you to share these recent developments with your friends and neighbors and ask them to sign up on our website. Only with your help can we make sure the Dallas taxpayers who will assume $550,000,000 in new debt are able to vote on the hotel.
You can help. Contact your City Council Member and the Mayor and let them know you think the taxpayer funded hotel should be stopped.
go to: http://www.notaxpayerhotel.com/ for more information and to sign up.
Texas Watchdog nails Fred Hill's revolving door
NEWS RELEASE
February 19, 2009
The online news site Texas Watchdog spotlights Richardson Republican Fred Hill, who for years was chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee.
Hill is the latest lawmaker to go through Capitol Hill's revolving door and become a lobbyist. Hill now represents a handful of North Texas city and town governments in Austin, work for which he could be paid almost $700,000.
Check out the story on www.texaswatchdog.org or follow this link: http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/02/former-state-rep-fred-hill-now-lobbying-on-behalf-of-cities-counties/
Critics of the revolving door say voters and taxpayers are unable to tell when lawmakers stop thinking like lawmakers and start thinking like someone on the hunt for a job. And in Hill's case – like many others who have waltzed through the revolving door – he went hunting for work from entities that had much to gain or lose from the actions on his committee: local governments.
Go to Texas Watchdog to get the documents that indicate Hill began thinking about a lobbying job in the months before he left the legislature. He registered his lobbying firm – a limited liability corporation called Solutions for Local Control – with the Secretary of State's office on Nov. 20, records show.
In most cases, lawmakers don't start lobbying duties until their replacement is sworn in. This year, that would have been Jan. 13. But by Jan. 3, the former chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee was asking for business from local governments, according to documents that can be seen exclusively at Texas Watchdog.
For more information, contact:
Texas Watchdog Editor Trent Seibert at 713-980-9776 or 615-289-9549 or at trent@texaswatchdog.org
February 19, 2009
The online news site Texas Watchdog spotlights Richardson Republican Fred Hill, who for years was chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee.
Hill is the latest lawmaker to go through Capitol Hill's revolving door and become a lobbyist. Hill now represents a handful of North Texas city and town governments in Austin, work for which he could be paid almost $700,000.
Check out the story on www.texaswatchdog.org or follow this link: http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/02/former-state-rep-fred-hill-now-lobbying-on-behalf-of-cities-counties/
Critics of the revolving door say voters and taxpayers are unable to tell when lawmakers stop thinking like lawmakers and start thinking like someone on the hunt for a job. And in Hill's case – like many others who have waltzed through the revolving door – he went hunting for work from entities that had much to gain or lose from the actions on his committee: local governments.
Go to Texas Watchdog to get the documents that indicate Hill began thinking about a lobbying job in the months before he left the legislature. He registered his lobbying firm – a limited liability corporation called Solutions for Local Control – with the Secretary of State's office on Nov. 20, records show.
In most cases, lawmakers don't start lobbying duties until their replacement is sworn in. This year, that would have been Jan. 13. But by Jan. 3, the former chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee was asking for business from local governments, according to documents that can be seen exclusively at Texas Watchdog.
For more information, contact:
Texas Watchdog Editor Trent Seibert at 713-980-9776 or 615-289-9549 or at trent@texaswatchdog.org
Texas Reps say "Back off Fed!"
A group of State Representatives are reasserting Texas' sovereignty as a state over the federal government.
Reps. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) and Leo Berman (R-Tyler) filed House Concurrent Resolution 50 on Feb. 17, the purpose of which is to affirm Texas' authority over the federal government and to issue a cease-and-dissist order on all federal laws that infringe on Texas' rights as a state.
Read the full text here.
We're not sure how this resolution will be received by Congress and the current White House administration, but the message will ring crystal clear.
Reps. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) and Leo Berman (R-Tyler) filed House Concurrent Resolution 50 on Feb. 17, the purpose of which is to affirm Texas' authority over the federal government and to issue a cease-and-dissist order on all federal laws that infringe on Texas' rights as a state.
Read the full text here.
We're not sure how this resolution will be received by Congress and the current White House administration, but the message will ring crystal clear.
Fred Hill's lobby contracts "don't pass the smell test"
According to this article on TexasWatchdog.org, State-Rep-Turned-Lobbyist Fred Hill is raking in taxpayer dollars from major Texas cities and state associations listed on his ever-growing client roster.
Hill may have left the legislature in early January, but he still has clout. And he’s still being paid with Texans’ tax dollars.
That’s because he’s the latest lawmaker to go through Capitol Hill’s revolving door and become a lobbyist. Hill is now representing a handful of north Texas city and town governments in Austin this year, work for which he would be paid between $395,000-$699,990 this year. Also among his clients are the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system and two local government groups who collect dues from their member local governments.
There should be a cooling off period, so-to-speak, for legislators before they take the jump into a lucrative lobbying career. But Hill apparently jumped at the chance to lobby while he was still a State Representative!
Hill began thinking about a lobbying job in the months before he left the legislature. He announced around the middle of last year that he wouldn’t seek re-election. He registered his firm, a limited liability corporation called Solutions for Local Control, with the Secretary of State’s office on Nov. 20, records show.
In most cases, lawmakers don’t start lobbying duties until their replacement is sworn in. This year, that would have been Jan. 13. But by Jan. 3, the former chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee was asking for business from local governments.
That’s OK, according to Hill — he says he formally resigned via letter to the governor on Jan. 2.
“This doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Peggy Venable, who leads the Texas branch of Americans For Prosperity, a fiscally conservative taxpayer watchdog. “When did he stop being a representative for his constituents and start being a representative for his lobbying interests?”
Here's an interesting kicker:
Hill says he’s not a lobbyist in the traditional sense. He’s signed on to work for local governments because he believes in fighting for taxpayers and for local control.
The truth is, Hill has never been a friend to taxpayers. He began the fight for more local government growth while still in office, and now he's taking our tax dollars to fight for even more tax dollars to spur local government growth and spending.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Are you mad about the stimulus?
We have every reason to feel betrayed by Congress’ action to pass the so-called Stimulus bill. Even though everyone in Congress voted to allow the American people 48 hours to read the Stimulus in its entirety, Nancy Pelosi has waived that is only allowing everyone 12 hours. Even Congressional members didn’t have the opportunity to read through the over 800 paged bill before voting. The health care portion added into the Stimulus Bill will lead to health care rationing.
www.NoStimulus.com now has 464,435 petition signers against the Stimulus Bill. `
www.NoStimulus.com now has 464,435 petition signers against the Stimulus Bill. `
Sen. Cornyn is right - stimulus isn't a good deal for Texans
“A Better Approach That Will Actually Restore America’s Economic Strength Remains Available”
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, today issued the following statement regarding his vote against the conference report on the Democrats’ spending plan:
“A stimulus bill would have been a good idea if it had been focused on the right priorities—fixing housing first, providing taxpayers with meaningful, broad-based tax relief and eliminating redundant and ineffective Washington programs. Instead, we saw Democrats in both chambers redefine ‘stimulus’ to mean nearly anything any of them desired. Many programs in the bill are wasteful and unnecessary. The bill will use taxpayer money for things like golf carts, art projects and company cars for federal employees.
“While proponents like to highlight that the bill will provide Texas with $10 billion in government programs, the bill spends money we don’t have—in fact, Texans’ share of the national debt will increase by $90 billion. This doesn’t seem like a good deal to me.
“As a staunch advocate of open government and transparency, I take serious issue with the fact that Members of Congress and the American public had less than 24 hours to look at the conference report before the final vote.
“A better approach to the stimulus bill that actually creates more opportunity for middle-class families and small businesses and restores America’s economic strength was available. It remains available, and I will continue to build support for an alternative and comprehensive plan.”
Senator Cornyn is committed to finding real solutions:
Fix Housing First
o Supported legislation allowing 3 million Texas homeowners to refinance their mortgages at 4% or 4.5%, saving Texans on average $300 per month.
o Voted to provide a $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers.
Promote broad-based tax relief for Texas families and businesses
o Introduced legislation to lower the 15% tax bracket to 10% and the 10% tax bracket to 5%, saving every Texas taxpayer $1,600 a year.
o Defended struggling small business owners by supporting tax cuts for capital investments and purchases, and increasing bonus depreciation for new investment in equipment and facilities.
Eliminate wasteful spending and strengthen oversight
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, today issued the following statement regarding his vote against the conference report on the Democrats’ spending plan:
“A stimulus bill would have been a good idea if it had been focused on the right priorities—fixing housing first, providing taxpayers with meaningful, broad-based tax relief and eliminating redundant and ineffective Washington programs. Instead, we saw Democrats in both chambers redefine ‘stimulus’ to mean nearly anything any of them desired. Many programs in the bill are wasteful and unnecessary. The bill will use taxpayer money for things like golf carts, art projects and company cars for federal employees.
“While proponents like to highlight that the bill will provide Texas with $10 billion in government programs, the bill spends money we don’t have—in fact, Texans’ share of the national debt will increase by $90 billion. This doesn’t seem like a good deal to me.
“As a staunch advocate of open government and transparency, I take serious issue with the fact that Members of Congress and the American public had less than 24 hours to look at the conference report before the final vote.
“A better approach to the stimulus bill that actually creates more opportunity for middle-class families and small businesses and restores America’s economic strength was available. It remains available, and I will continue to build support for an alternative and comprehensive plan.”
Senator Cornyn is committed to finding real solutions:
Fix Housing First
o Supported legislation allowing 3 million Texas homeowners to refinance their mortgages at 4% or 4.5%, saving Texans on average $300 per month.
o Voted to provide a $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers.
Promote broad-based tax relief for Texas families and businesses
o Introduced legislation to lower the 15% tax bracket to 10% and the 10% tax bracket to 5%, saving every Texas taxpayer $1,600 a year.
o Defended struggling small business owners by supporting tax cuts for capital investments and purchases, and increasing bonus depreciation for new investment in equipment and facilities.
Eliminate wasteful spending and strengthen oversight
Monday, February 16, 2009
We can learn from Kennedy, Jefferson and Reagan
This President’s day, it is appropriate to note a few quotes from Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan:
John Kennedy once said to a assembled group of scholars in the White House: I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of Human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House -- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Kennedy would have also recommended we heed Ronald Reagan...
The quotes below could prove his point.
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical,”
- Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
~Thomas Jefferson:
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
~Thomas Jefferson:
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
~Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
~Thomas Jefferson
”We don’t have a billion-dollar debt because we have not taxed enough, but we have a billion dollar debt because we spend too much.” – Ronald Reagan
We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. -Ronald Reagan
You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, "The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."
- Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964
"If you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state and local agencies will investigate you, summon you, close you down, whatever. But if you provide a child with a rotten education, nothing happens, except that you're liable to be given more money to do it with. Well, we've discovered that money alone isn't the answer." -- President Ronald Reagan
Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.
--Ronald Reagan
“I hope you will travel … with liberty’s lamp guiding your way.” -- Ronald Reagan
John Kennedy once said to a assembled group of scholars in the White House: I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of Human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House -- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Kennedy would have also recommended we heed Ronald Reagan...
The quotes below could prove his point.
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical,”
- Thomas Jefferson
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
~Thomas Jefferson:
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
~Thomas Jefferson:
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
~Thomas Jefferson
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
~Thomas Jefferson
”We don’t have a billion-dollar debt because we have not taxed enough, but we have a billion dollar debt because we spend too much.” – Ronald Reagan
We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. -Ronald Reagan
You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, "The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits."
- Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964
"If you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state and local agencies will investigate you, summon you, close you down, whatever. But if you provide a child with a rotten education, nothing happens, except that you're liable to be given more money to do it with. Well, we've discovered that money alone isn't the answer." -- President Ronald Reagan
Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.
--Ronald Reagan
“I hope you will travel … with liberty’s lamp guiding your way.” -- Ronald Reagan
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thanks, Sen. Cornyn
It's well worth a read - and if you have not done so yet, sign up on www.NoStimulus.com and Americans for Prosperity will keep you updated on what is happening with the trillion-dollar spending (stimulus) bill.
Dallas Morning News - February 13, 2009
CORNYN: HERE'S THE BLUEPRINT FOR A REAL STIMULUS
On Monday, President Barack Obama argued that we cannot rely on the same strategies that got our economy into this crisis to get us out of it. I agree. I voted against the economic stimulus bill as it moved through Congress – and will vote against the final bill today – because I believe it replicates a failed strategy. A stimulus bill is a good idea if it's focused on the right priorities, which was Obama's original vision. The administration said it wanted a bill that was timely, targeted and temporary. If the bill had reflected that spirit, the president's goal of 80 votes in the Senate might well have been in reach. But we never saw the bill the president said he wanted. Democrats in Congress redefined "stimulus" to mean nearly anything any of them desired, with predictable results.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-cornyn_13edi.State.Edition1.265c31f.html
Dallas Morning News - February 13, 2009
CORNYN: HERE'S THE BLUEPRINT FOR A REAL STIMULUS
On Monday, President Barack Obama argued that we cannot rely on the same strategies that got our economy into this crisis to get us out of it. I agree. I voted against the economic stimulus bill as it moved through Congress – and will vote against the final bill today – because I believe it replicates a failed strategy. A stimulus bill is a good idea if it's focused on the right priorities, which was Obama's original vision. The administration said it wanted a bill that was timely, targeted and temporary. If the bill had reflected that spirit, the president's goal of 80 votes in the Senate might well have been in reach. But we never saw the bill the president said he wanted. Democrats in Congress redefined "stimulus" to mean nearly anything any of them desired, with predictable results.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-cornyn_13edi.State.Edition1.265c31f.html
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