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Just open your piehole and let crap spew out of it.
What Pete told me, one of his constituents, about his reasoning after 1st voting for it in the House:
Dear Victoria:
Thanks for contacting me about our current recession and the best way to stimulate the economy. Despite my skeptism of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, I voted for the bill.
The economy is in the tank and unfortunately Oregon is in the deep end of the tank. Unemployment in Oregon has reached 9 percent, up from 5.4 percent one year ago. More Oregonians were out of work last month than any time since 1983. Locally, Lane County's unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, the county's highest rate in 24 years. Worse yet, Douglas County in one year has seen its unemployment increase by 50 percent to 12.8 percent. Our local economy is suffering from the loss of jobs including forestry and wood products, the semiconductor manufacturer Hynix, and two major RV manufacturers.
I voted in favor of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but not because I believe it is the best we can do. I voted in favor of the legislation because I am hopeful the package will be substantially improved by the legislative process and help alleviate the drastic job losses that are already occurring in Oregon. I am reserving my right to vote against the final version of this legislation if it is not substantially improved.
I fought for inclusion of key provisions to make sure Oregon would directly benefit from this stimulus. For example, H.R. 1 makes a $10 billion investment in public lands. After eight years of neglect under the Bush Administration, our public lands face many structural challenges, including a crumbling infrastructure in our National Parks, a large backlog of unused and obsolete Forest Service roads in need of decommissioning, abandoned mines in need of remediation, deferred maintenance work on Bureau of Land Management lands, and an extensive list of unfunded projects at the Bureau of Reclamation.
In rural towns facing severe economic challenges - including many communities in my district and in the state of Oregon - contractors and agencies stand ready to put thousands of people to work immediately to restore our public lands. Using funds to protect our lands, restore habitats, reduce the occurrence of wildfires and to protect homes and property, and to improve our water sources creates jobs immediately, while paying dividends well into the future. Sixty percent of the Forest Service budget is currently spent on fighting forest fires. This is unsustainable and we need to focus on thinning and fuel reduction in our forests. Forest Service and BLM road culverts need to be repaired or removed to prevent erosion and loss of salmon habitat.
I also led the Northwest delegation to secure $3.25 billion in increased borrowing authority for BPA. This will help build critical infrastructure to facilitate renewable and energy efficient projects that the BPA has planned but cannot currently build due to a lack of capital and the frozen credit markets. Under the plan, BPA is required to repay the U.S. Treasury. The increased borrowing authority will directly and immediately create 1,000 construction jobs in Oregon, a sector that has been particularly hard hit, and will eventually create tens of thousands of jobs in the renewable energy industry in the Pacific Northwest.
Many important Oregon programs that help people in dire need will get significant boosts in federal funding. For example, Oregon will receive:
o $445.3 million over two years to fund education
o $305.1 million to fund other state services to protect the state budget.
o $7.2 million for local Head Start programs in Oregon
o $33 million in the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants
o $5 million increase in the COPS program for additional police officers.
o $307 million increase in food stamp benefits which will benefit over 507,000 recipients.
o $800 million for Medicaid to provide a basic level of health services for the unemployed
o $140 million for new education construction and modernization
o $67 million for capitol repair and maintenance of the Oregon University System
Finally, H.R. 1 also boosts unemployment insurance. More than 300,000 Oregonians will see a benefit increase of $25 per week in their unemployment insurance. 52,293 Oregonians are expected to get benefits from the extended coverage.
It is my hope that the final version of the bill will include a significantly greater proportion of spending on proven job creation like infrastructure investment. I firmly believe the best way the federal government can stimulate the economy is to put Americans back to work producing real products made here in America. We need to employ Americans to refurbish and construct public buildings, roads, bridges, and schools. Restoring our depleted infrastructure puts people back to work today and provides public facilities for future generations.
The bill currently includes $30 billion for highways and bridges across the nation ($350 million for Oregon), $9 billion for transit ($85 million for Oregon), $2 billion rail ($15 million for Oregon), almost $6 billion for clean water infrastructure ($65 million for Oregon), and $14 billion for school modernization ($140 million for Oregon). These numbers sound large, but the infrastructure deficit is much larger. We can put a lot of Americans to work filling this gap and greatly improve the long-term viability of our nation. I was pleased that my amendment, to increase transit funding by $3 billion, was included in the bill. The bottom line is that infrastructure spending is good bang for the federal buck. Unfortunately, infrastructure spending was curtailed to make room for a host of other initiatives that are far less effective in stimulating the economy.
H.R. 1 is unfocused and tries to please too many people. Of the $210 billion in tax cuts, $165 billion - for businesses and individuals- will do nothing to stimulate the economy. The past eight years have proven that tax cuts do not stimulate the economy. The only thing to show for the Bush tax cuts are massive federal deficits and a major recession.
The 2008 tax rebates intended to boost consumer spending failed to stimulate the economy because most people saved that money. In the same way, President Obama's "making work pay" $500 tax credit will also fail to stimulate the economy. The federal government spent $78 billion on the tax rebates in the second quarter of last year but consumption only increased by $12 billion in response. For every dollar of tax cuts, the economy gained 15 cents. We can't continue to rely on a borrowed money consumer driven economy to work our way out this recession.
The business tax credits included in the bill have also been tried and tested, with little success. The have been recycled from the Bush Administration years and economic studies have proved their ineffectiveness. One such provision would allow a company with losses in the current year to get a refund from taxes paid in the last five years. This windfall would certainly enhance the bottom line of corporations but do nothing to actually create jobs.
Another provision accelerates the depreciation of capital improvements. Making it easier for corporations to invest with new equipment makes sense, but past experiences have shown this tax cut fails to encourage investment. Earlier this decade, accelerated depreciation was enacted to stimulate the economy but studies found that investment by the 275 of America's largest corporations fell by 15 percent. Remarkably, the 25 corporations that reported the largest tax savings from accelerated depreciation actually reduced their investment more than the other 250 corporations studied.
I believe we must act now to reverse the course of the economy, but I remain skeptical of H.R. 1. I am even more skeptical of continuing the failed Bush tax cuts. I favor spending and targeted tax cuts that will directly create jobs for Americans. If the final bill is more focused on job creation for Americans, I will enthusiastically support it.
Sincerely,
Rep. Peter DeFazio
Fourth District, OREGON
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