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Key Democrat Rips Stimulus, predicts more bailouts
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 01/27/09 01:22 PM [ET]
A key
Democrat on Tuesday lambasted the economic stimulus bill that is headed to
the House floor, claiming it was put together too quickly and won’t help
the economy in the short term.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), who chairs the Financial Services
subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored
Enterprises, said on C-SPAN that Democrats have "lost our way" and
"shouldn't be pressed by silly deadlines" of getting the bill into law by
the Presidents Day recess.
Democratic
leaders have vowed to get the bill passed by Presidents Day.
During his appearance, Kanjorski said he will oppose the bill unless it is
significantly changed.
Noting that Congress has taken many legislative steps over the past year
to fix the economy, Kanjorski said, "Quite frankly, we're doing this in
small stages and small bites. We need to take our time. I guarantee we're
going to come back and we are going to have another stimulus, we're going
to have another bailout for Wall Street because we are not doing these
things properly."
Kanjorski claimed that the Obama administration and Democratic leadership
in Congress are not communicating enough with most members of Congress.
The subcommittee chairman pointed out that "regular order" of bills moving
through committee before hitting the floor is not being followed on the
stimulus.
"I think we've lost our way in a way ... We shouldn't be pressed by these
silly deadlines like, you know, what makes [the] Presidents Day holiday so
important for us to get out of town?"
He added, "In order to get it right, we have to spend time and analyze how
much is going to hit the street as fast as it can hit the street and I
don't think we've done that. I think, to a large extent, many of the parts
of the stimulus are programs that are going to take years and years and
years to accomplish ..."
Kanjorski suggested the $700 billion bailout bill was rushed and that
Congress made mistakes in its haste.
Throughout the interview, Kanjorski bemoaned that not enough funds in the
stimulus will help the economy in the first couple of years.
The Hill reported this month that subcommittee chairmen in the House are
upset that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is not following regular order
on high-profile bills. The subcommittee chairmen, however, have been
assured that after the stimulus package is passed, the House will return
to the regular-order process.
Proponents of the stimulus plan claim it needs to be passed soon because
of the economic downturn, and dispute assertions that it would not jolt
the economy in 2009 and 2010.
Touting a new report from the Congressional Budget Office, Pelosi on
Monday said "about two-thirds of the [economic stimulus] plan’s recovery
investments will come in the first 18 months after it is en
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