It's Just Really Bad Legislation...That's The Problem

Michele Bachmann | February 06, 2009 2:13 PM

A month into the 111th Congress, we've seen no signs of the “change” and “reform” to Washington promised by the Democrats last fall. Starting with a restrictive rules package meant to

silence the House minority, the heavy-handed partisan talk continues. For instance, President Obama made some strong remarks last night while before the House Democrats at their retreat in Williamsburg, VA.

According to Washington's DC Examiner newspaper:

"President Obama used some of his toughest partisan rhetoric yet... Accusing Republicans of engaging in 'phony arguments and petty politics,' Obama escalated the tone of his pushback against Republican complaints about the size and direction of the stimulus package."

Yahoo news reported today that:

"Obama... dismissed Republican attacks against the massive spending in the stimulus.

“‘What do you think a stimulus is?' Obama asked incredulously. 'It’s spending — that's the whole point! Seriously.'”

Maybe the Republicans’ problem is that this is simply a really bad piece of legislation.

Perhaps the spending that the President calls "essential" and "stimulating" is simply spending for the sake of spending. Perhaps this bill pays little more than lip service to funding for transportation and infrastructure projects that will really put people to work. Maybe the bill is simply too bloated with pork barrel projects that will do nothing to put our economy on the track to greater prosperity.

The tone from the other side of the aisle is akin to: There's a crisis facing our nation; something big needs to be done to fix it and this is THE solution. If you disagree or have a different solution, you are wrong and don't really care about fixing the problem and helping our nation.

Check out this link to see a list of examples of the wasteful spending provisions contained in this "stimulus" bill. While some of these projects may be worthy and deserve attention, they should be addressed separately and not lumped into a package that is strictly supposed to help the economy and put people to work.