Jack Kingston

Washington, Feb 9 -

With the Senate set to vote early this week on the economic “stimulus” package, Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) today called on President Obama, and congressional Democrats to stop fishing for votes and start fishing for jobs.

“President Obama campaigned on a new era of bipartisanship and cooperation in Washington,” Congressman Kingston said.  “This so-called compromise is nothing more than a ploy to flip three votes in the Senate.  Just trimming some of the fat isn’t enough – this package is fundamentally flawed and doesn’t represent the change we deserve or the stimulus we need.  We need to go back to the drawing board and craft a package that creates jobs and represents faithful stewardship of the hard earned tax dollars of all Americans.”

The compromise reached last night would cut an estimated $100 billion from the original package which passed the House along a party-line vote last week.  However, when the amendments accepted on the Senate floor are taken into consideration, the Senate compromise package totals $7.5 billion than the House-passed version.

Congressman Kingston opposed that version citing its huge impact on the national debt, the lack of tax relief and billions of dollars devoted to social programs like the National Endowment for the Arts.  Public support for that package has slipped to thirty-seven percent according to the most recent polling by Rasmussen.  The same report found that half of Americans believe the package would do more harm than good.

“I want to work with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid but we’ve got to come together to find the best approach for America’s future,” said Congressman Kingston.  “If throwing money at the problem were the answer, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion – Washington’s poured a trillion dollars into the economy since last August alone.  We need the right mix of tax relief for working families and small businesses.  We need to address home values and we need to put those who’ve lost their jobs back to work.”

While Congressman Kingston voted against the spending package when it came to the floor last week, he voted for an economic recovery plan offered by House Republicans.  That plan, which would allow small businesses, families, home buyers and job seekers to keep more of what they earn, would have created nearly twice as many jobs according methodology crafted by the Chairwoman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, Christina Romer.  Using her formula, the House Republican plan would create 186,000 jobs in Georgia alone - 73,000 more than the plan currently under consideration.

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