McCain, Republican Senate Leaders Speak Out Against "Stimulus;" John Thune Uses Past Tense: "It Wasn't Targeted, It Wasn't Temporary, It Wasn't Timely; It Was Slow, Unfocused, and Ongoing"

Thune is speaking of the House bill. Still, it's interesting that he speaks in the past tense.

McCAIN: The polls are rafting (?). The American people are beginning to figure out what this package is. That it's not a stimulus package, it's a spending package. And when they see many of the items in this, and some of them are very big items, for example, wiring for broadband and wireless, that's a very laudable goal. But it would take years to achieve. And it's a six billion dollar item. I mean, so, the American people are beginning to figure it out.

THUNE: 22 cents on the dollar went into tax relief. That's far too little in terms of the overall package and what it's going to cost. If you look at the way it's scored by CBO, 12 percent is spent out in the first year, 49.5 in the second year. It's hard to argue that's really stimulus. A lot of this stuff goes into the baseline, almost 200 billion dollars of this drops into the baseline, so it's going to be ongoing costs not one-time costs. It wasn't targeted, it wasn't temporary, it wasn't timely, it was slow, unfocused, and ongoing.

I like that soundbite from Thune a lot.

posted by Ace at 02:48 PM

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