“I was glad to see some “encouraging” news coming from the White House this week regarding the Democrat American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the so-called stimulus.  According to the recovery.gov website, Idaho’s eighth congressional district has received $618,253, and 29.2 jobs have been created.  This would be great news for the eighth district, if only it existed. Memo to President Obama: Idaho has two congressional districts.  While this blunder was a result of human error, it provides a telling look at what happens when large government bureaucracies try to justify themselves.  If a business put out this type of misinformation, it would be called fraud. 

“While this is an amusing anecdote, the dramatic failure of this legislation is far from a joke.  Jobs continue to be lost in record numbers, and unemployment has jumped to 10.2%, a 26-year high.  Still, Democrats refuse to admit their stimulus plan has failed, and even claim outrageously that it has been a success.  Well, the numbers don’t lie, and the American people aren’t buying it.  Three million jobs have been lost since February when the ARRA passed.  The State of Idaho continues to suffer, moving from 8.8% to 8.9% unemployment in October as 1,100 Idahoans lost their jobs.  A record 67,300 workers are now without jobs in the State. 

“If the Administration’s “transparency” website is so flawed, should we believe any of the numbers coming out of the White House?  When Vice President Biden announces that 1 million jobs have been saved or created by the $787 billion ARRA, is anyone listening?  Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that the Democrats have plans to pass a third stimulus in December.  Does anyone think that she can get it right this time?

“While Americans struggle to pay bills and keep food on the table, the Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress continue to spend as if there were not record debts already on the books.  While American jobs disintegrate they are working to ensure Khalid Sheikh Mohammed does not have his constitutional rights violated, and they continue to push a trillion-dollar plus health care government take-over and a cap-and-trade bill that will only further hamstring our economy.  Meanwhile, President Obama has announced that he will host a White House “jobs summit” accompanied by a cross-country campaign-style tour to talk about the economy.  This gives me little hope.

“There are several Republican plans to restore jobs that I strongly support.  H.R. 2021, the Savings Recovery Act, would take common-sense measures to help Americans rebuild their devastated savings by raising contribution and catch-up limits for retirement accounts and suspending minimum withdrawals from IRAs and 401Ks.  I also support efforts to reduce onerous taxes on small businesses and individuals like H.R. 301, which would make the 2001 and 2003 tax relief permanent.  We also must take steps to reduce duplicity and waste in the federal government with legislation like H.R. 393, the Federal Sunset Act, which would require a review of every federal agency to reorganize or abolish unnecessary bureaucracies.  Unfortunately, Democratic leadership is unlikely to allow any of these bills to see the light of day, but prefers instead to lock out Republican ideas then label us the “party of no.” 

“The Democrats claim ARRA generated one million jobs and was a success, but even if you believe their estimate, each job was “created” at $787,000 a pop.  Oh, and the taxpayer picked up the bill.  Like many Americans, I’ve grown weary of this approach.  We cannot afford to continue running up the bills on our national credit card.  Let’s focus on real reform that will help our economy grow again.”