Shuler votes against revised stimulus package

One of just seven House Democrats to do so, Rep. Heath Shuler voted against the $790 billion compromise stimulus bill today. Earlier this year, Shuler also voted against the House version of the bill, citing concern that it did not include sufficient infrastructure spending. In this latest vote, Shuler reiterated his position. In a written statement, he declared that the compromise bill contains “entirely too much spending in areas that will not provide an immediate stimulative effect to our nation’s economy.”

The stimulus package should focus “solely on programs that offer an immediate economic impact — like extending unemployment insurance — and investments in our nation’s infrastructure, which have a rate of return of 6 to 1,” Shuler said. He emphasized, “Across the country there are currently transportation projects totaling $64 billion that could be under contract within 180 days, yet this bill provides only $27.5 billion for those projects.”

Shuler also argued that representatives were not given adequate time to review the compromise proposal. He has recently proposed requiring that bills be posted online for at least 48 hours prior to being considered on the House floor.

Shuler was unavailable for comment on his vote. See his full written statement below.

— Margaret Williams, contributing editor

————————————————————————————————————

For Immediate Release
February 13, 2009

Contact: Andrew Whalen, Communications Director
office: (202) 225-6401 / cell: (202) 731-5116
________________________________________________________________________

Rep. Shuler Statement on Conference Report of Stimulus Package

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Heath Shuler today released the following statement after voting against the conference report on H.R. 1, the economic stimulus package.

“We all agree that action must be taken to stimulate our economy. However, I continue to disagree with the course of action laid out in this bill. Its focus should have been solely on programs that offer an immediate economic impact—like extending unemployment insurance—and investments in our nation’s infrastructure, which have a rate of return of 6 to 1. While this final bill does provide some funding in those areas I am remarkably concerned that only 3.4% of the funding in this package goes toward repairing our country’s highways and bridges. More specifically, across the country there are currently transportation projects totaling $64 billion that could be under contract within 180 days, yet this bill provides only $27.5 billion for those projects.”

“In the end, this bill simply contained entirely too much spending in areas that will not provide an immediate stimulative effect to our nation’s economy. With our national debt approaching $11 trillion we should not be borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars without careful and deliberate consideration.”

“Additionally, I am remarkably disappointed in House leadership for bringing a bill of this size and magnitude up for a vote without giving members adequate time to review it fully. We must have a greater respect for this institution and for its Members.”

Background

Shuler introduced legislation in the 110th Congress, H.Res, 484, to require all legislation be posted on the Internet for 48 hours before it is considered on the House floor.

 

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20 thoughts on “Shuler votes against revised stimulus package

  1. I appreciate Rep. Shuler for attempting to save Americans from suffocating debt, taxation and inflation.

    I’m afraid it’s too little, too late, sir. There are simply more corrupt, salivating vultures than can be kept at bay with the votes of a few conscientious and valiant public servants.

  2. rexrex

    Well, that’s one set of balls that I won’t be voting for the next time around. Dude, why don’t you just move your seat over to the Republican side of the House and have done with it. At least with WNC’s last rep., the people knew exactly what they were voting for rather than this lame trojan horse.
    What’s more corrupt or salivating than the last benighted eight years of the Bush Administration when anything went in the pursuit of the unholy Reaganomic never trickling down dollars?

  3. Something to consider:

    With zero House Republicans voting for the stimulus — and with just three Senate Republicans expected to vote for it later this afternoon — it’s worth noting that 28 House Democrats and 12 Senate Democrats voted for the final passage of Bush’s big tax cut in 2001. (And remember, too, that Bush had barely won the presidential election the year before.)

    The size of that 2001 tax-cut package? $1.35 trillion.

    http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/13/1795170.aspx

    How would Shuler have voted back then if he was there? And I guess you could say Bush’s economic give aways for eight years did not turn out to well.

  4. travelah

    Something else to consider …..

    The Bush tax cuts did not diminish tax revenues. Tax revenues as a percent of GDP in 2006 were 18.4%. They were 18.4% in 1987 and 18.5% in 1995. The current economic rape will ultimately require massive tax increases. This means the economic standard of living for your children is going to suffer for the idiocy of their Democrat parents (and those non-Democrats eating the same cake).

    I would say that based on the several millions of jobs created under the Bush years, that things turned out fairly well. It is unfortunate that the Democrats and their activist allies poisoned the cake by forcing bankers and Fannie/Freddie to loan money to people who were not even close to being economically qualified for a mortgage. Remember the credit crisis? That was the problem rather than the lack of a high speed bullet train from LA to Las Vegas for that nasty man from Nevada.

  5. Some historical facts from the Depression era Mr. Shuler, the delusional Republican party and travelah may want to consider. Note the trend.

    71st Congress (1929-1931)

    Majority Party: Republican (56 seats)

    Minority Party: Democrat (39 seats)

    Other Parties: 1 Farmer-Labor

    Total Seats: 96

    —————————————————————————————————-

    72nd Congress (1931-1933)

    Majority Party: Republican (48 seats)

    Minority Party: Democrat (47 seats)

    Other Parties: 1 Farmer-Labor

    Total Seats: 96

    —————————————————————————————————-

    73rd Congress (1933-1935)

    Majority Party: Democrat (59 seats)

    Minority Party: Republican (36 seats)

    Other Parties: 1 Farmer-Labor

    Total Seats: 96

    —————————————————————————————————-

    74th Congress (1935-1937)

    Majority Party: Democrat (69 seats)

    Minority Party: Republican (25 seats)

    Other Parties: 1 Farmer-Labor; 1 Progressive

    Total Seats: 96

    —————————————————————————————————-

    75th Congress (1937-1939)

    Majority Party: Democrat (76 seats)

    Minority Party: Republican (16 seats)

    Other Parties: 2 Farmer-Labor; 1 Progressive; 1 Independent

    Total Seats: 96

    http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm

  6. I see the trend: greater and greater unbridled government intervention in the marketplace.

    Here’s where that trend inevitably leads:

    “We’re going to see the economic collapse the likes of which the world has never seen before” -Gerald Celente, founder and director of the Trends Research Institute

    http://snipr.com/bxdiq

    “When I say it’s going to be worse than the Great Depression, we call it the Greatest Depression. By the way, to be using 1930s models to get the U.S. out of this is really stupid.”

  7. travelah

    Christopher, nothing you provided is a revelation. I am unsure what point you are trying to make.

  8. For Tim Peck what it means is that Americans have a strong preference for the redistribution of wealth in a down and outward movement instead of an upward and concentrated way through the use of government intervention by setting the rules of the game of capitalism.

    For you travelah what it means is that Americans really likes their cake.

  9. “Americans have a strong preference for the redistribution”

    I agree.

    Greedy Americans have long had a penchant for thieving the property and money from those it belongs to and giving it to those to whom it does not belong. This is theft, pure and simple. And Americans vote for theft every time.

    Hence, our current economic crisis.

  10. travelah

    Christopher, most Americans haven’t tasted it yet. When they do and become sickened, they might come looking for the sycophants.

  11. Piffy!

    “Greedy Americans have long had a penchant for thieving the property and money from those it belongs to and giving it to those to whom it does not belong. ”

    I agree whole-heartedly, TimPuck. But I bet we would disagree on who those “Greedy Americans” are.

  12. YellowDog

    From Rep. Shuler’s statement on voting against the Stimulus Bill –
    1) It did not have enough “programs that offer an immediate economic impact – like extending unemployment insurance”
    2) It did not contain enough “investments in our nation’s infrastructure” like “transportation projects totaling $64 billion that could be under contract within 180 days”.
    3) I am “ remarkably concerned that only 3.4% of the funding in this package goes toward repairing our country’s highways and bridges”.
    4) I do not think there was enough time to consider this bill and I “introduced legislation in the 110th Congress, H.Res, 484, to require all legislation be posted on the Internet for 48 hours before it is considered on the House floor.

    I am beginning to think I have been wrong in criticizing Shuler’s vote against the final stimulus bill. It appears that he thinks there was not enough spending.
    I think he is in a good position to correct the failures of the current bill by introducing an additional stimulus bill that goes even further to create jobs and stimulate this economy. This new bill could be put on the Internet for 48 hours before it is considered on the House floor. I think that Shuler and the other Blue Dog Democrats would be in a good position to reach across the aisle and get some Republican support for the bill. I feel certain that President Obama would sign a bill that provided for more jobs in our troubled economy.

  13. John

    They aren’t ready to start spending the money so why is a few days so important to passing the bill? Why? So Americans will have no idea of all the BS that is loaded into it.

    Pelosi wrote the whole bill in her own office to the exclusion of the committee chairmen in her own party and of course the Rep party. She will go down as the most partisan Speaker ever. She is all about her own personal power. Obama will tire of her and Ried quickly.

  14. Jessica

    I feel that you people should actually know what you are talking about before you say that you are not voting for him the next time around. Most of you who say this problem have no knowledge of the WHOLE stimulus plan, you only know about what the media tells you about it.

  15. The Wine Mule

    “”I see the trend: greater and greater unbridled government intervention in the marketplace.

    Here’s where that trend inevitably leads:

    “We’re going to see the economic collapse the likes of which the world has never seen before” -Gerald Celente, founder and director of the Trends Research Institute””

    Wow. I’ve heard doublespeak in my time, but this takes the prize. The economic collapse which Mr. Celente predicts is the result of LACK of government oversight of the marketplace. We had eight years of regulators who didn’t regulate, and now we’re broke and poisoned. Heck of a job!

  16. The coming economic collapse is the inevitable consequence of government interference in the marketplace.

    The free market did not create the Federal Reserve central banking system, it did not create the fraud of Fannie Mae or HUD, it did not print and spend non-existent fiat money backed only by debt and inflation, it did not bail out Wall Street and GM when they should have failed, it did not nationalize banks, and it did not create a $2T national deficit.

    http://snipr.com/c2fcm

    A good corrective to the fallacy that we have a free market, and that it could in any way be responsible for any economic problems, is the new book: “Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse” by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
    http://www.mises.org/store/Meltdown-P557.aspx

    I would also recommend listening to the audio by the author on the same subject: “Not Guilty as Charged: The Foolish Attempt to Blame the Free Market for the Economic Collapse”
    The coming economic collapse is the inevitable consequence of government interference in the marketplace.

    The free market did not create the Federal Reserve central banking system, it did not create the fraud of Fannie Mae or HUD, it did not print and spend non-existent fiat money backed only by debt and inflation, it did not bail out Wall Street and GM when they should have failed, it did not nationalize banks, and it did not create a $2T national deficit.

    http://snipr.com/c2fcm

    A good corrective to the fallacy that we have a free market, and that it could in any way be responsible for any economic problems, is the new book: “Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse” by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
    http://snipr.com/cd2cl

    I would also recommend listening to the audio by the author on the same subject: “Not Guilty as Charged: The Foolish Attempt to Blame the Free Market for the Economic Collapse”
    http://snipr.com/cd2ae

  17. The coming economic collapse is the inevitable consequence of government interference in the marketplace.

    The free market did not create the Federal Reserve central banking system, it did not create the fraud of Fannie Mae or HUD, it did not print and spend non-existent fiat money backed only by debt and inflation, it did not bail out Wall Street and GM when they should have failed, it did not nationalize banks, and it did not create a $2T national deficit.

    http://snipr.com/c2fcm

    A good corrective to the fallacy that we have a free market, and that it could in any way be responsible for any economic problems, is the new book: “Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse” by Thomas E. Woods Jr.

    http://snipr.com/cd2cl

    I would also recommend listening to the audio by the author on the same subject: “Not Guilty as Charged: The Foolish Attempt to Blame the Free Market for the Economic Collapse”

    http://snipr.com/cd2ae

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