BY GROVER NORQUIST – Yesterday, February 17, marked the two year anniversary of the hallmark failure of the Obama Administration: the signing of the “stimulus” package into law. There is little for taxpayers to celebrate on the second anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as every promise made regarding the spending plan by the White House has been broken.
Promise: Absent an infusion of “stimulus” cash, unemployment would skyrocket to 8 percent.
o Two years later: Over the past 21 months, unemployment has yet to drop below 9 percent, with over 150 economists urging the President to stop his spending binge to spur real economic growth.
Promise: Using the creative, but totally unverifiable metric of jobs “saved or created” the President claimed the “stimulus” plan would “save or create” 3.5 million jobs.
o Two years later: the economy has almost 6 million fewer jobs than the Administration promised it would with the passage of the “stimulus” package.
Promise: “…every American will be able to go online and see where and how we’re spending every dime.”
o Two years later: After an $18 million overhaul, Recovery.gov remains as useless as the day it first launched, unable to track where federal funds have gone. Between the White House, Congress, and agencies tasked with monitoring “stimulus” funds, no consensus has been made on how much of the “stimulus” has been spent. Estimates of funds left over range from $5 billion to $160 billion.
Promise: The federal infusion of cash would shore up state budgets that had fallen victim to a struggling economy.
o Two years later: Not required to face their fiscal reckoning from overspending, state and local budgets accepted “stimulus” funds from the federal government, increasing obligations at a time they should have been cutting their bottom lines. As a result, the states face a $72 billion shortfall heading into 2011 and are scrambling to fund the promises made with short-term “stimulus” handouts.
Americans for Tax Reform is joined by Let Freedom Ring, Restore the Dream Foundation and a strong coalition of activists in urging Congress to rescind all of the unspent “stimulus” money. The RESET Act, sponsored by Rep. Sean Duffy, would send all unspent “stimulus” funds back to the Treasury for deficit reduction. The language of this bill has been included in the Continuing Resolution, currently being debated on the House floor. Sign the petition today to tell Congress to DEFUND THE STIMULUS.
Grover Norquist is the President of Americans for Tax Reform