Lummis says no to U.S. economic recovery

Here's Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis's statement explaining her vote against the stimulus package designed to rescue the U.S. from the recession:

Following her vote against the $816 billion economic stimulus package, U.S.Representative Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., issued this statement:

“The economy is in a downturn, and is in need of help – we are all feeling that reality. However, I believe this economic stimulus package will not deliver the shot in the arm we are looking for. We cannot borrow and spend our way back to economic prosperity.

“The stimulus package provides enough spending to give every man, woman and child in America $2,700, but will cost each and every household an additional $6,700 in debt.

“Huge amounts of government spending have never been an effective tool for economic recovery. It has been tried here and around the world before, and it has always been found wanting.

“This bill, meant to stimulate our economy, has among other crazy things, money for the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2010 census, and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. This is not stimulus – it is a bridge to bankruptcy – and it is not how tax dollars should be spent.

“That is why I have cosponsored alternative measures that cut taxes and give individuals and small business back the money they’ve earned. This is a true stimulus for the economy.“

The bill I support, the ‘Economic Recovery and Middle-Class Relief Act of 2009’ would cut income taxes 5 percent across the board, and permanently lower the capital gains, as well as repeal the alternative minimum tax.

“It would also include a 1 percent across-the-board budget cut for everything but defense and veterans – a first step in the right direction of true fiscal discipline. “While there are a variety of programs in the President’s stimulus package that I could support on their own merits, I hope to consider them in next year’s budget, and not in a stimulus free-for-all, like the one being considered in Congress now.”

Republicans brought us this economic crisis with their tax cuts for the rich and an unnecessary crusade in Iraq. That war alone has cost the U.S. almost $600 billion (see http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home). That could pay for the stimulus package that Lummis so blithely dismisses.

It's also good to know that Lummis is on record against funding for the arts. That's a continuation of her predecessor's ignorant anti-arts stances. Gives us something to use against her when she runs again in 2010.

Also, this release refers to an $816 billion stimulus package. The actual amount is $819 billion. That's a difference of $3 billion. And Lummis once was Wyoming's treasurer? Makes you wonder.