Lewis: No Point in Using Failed Leftover “Stimulus” Funds for More Flawed “Stimulus” Programs

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With rumors swirling about the possible attempt by House Democrat leaders to use unspent “stimulus” funds to offset even more bailout and failed “jobs” programs, House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis today stated his opposition to such a maneuver.

 

“There is simply no point in re-using money from failed ‘stimulus’ programs to fund yet more flawed ‘stimulus’ programs. Why make the American people continue to pay billions for the same policy mistakes over and over again?” Lewis asked.

 

Lewis stated that an emergency war and disaster assistance bill is being stalled by Democrats so they can manipulate the must-pass legislation for more “jobs” spending, perhaps including funding for a new $50 billion request from President Obama for bailouts to states and other “stimulus” programs. Democrat leaders, apparently concerned about the public opposition to this unnecessary spending, have floated proposals to offset the extraneous provisions with unused funds from previous “stimulus” legislation.

 

“The American people are being very clear – they do not want their unspent tax dollars swept up to fund even more unnecessary bailouts or new or bigger government ‘stimulus’ programs. They know firsthand that these failed programs aren’t working, and they are rightly concerned that this skyrocketing spending is driving the nation’s finances into the ground and hurting our future prosperity,” Lewis said.

 

“The billions in unused funds leftover from the first ‘stimulus’ bill floating around in the federal coffers should be returned to the Treasury to reduce the deficit, or used to cover the cost of true national emergencies,” Lewis said, “The Democrat majority should start listening to the American people, and not resort to accounting gimmicks to continue to reward policies of failure with yet more borrowed spending.”

 

Lewis also noted that Democrats are pushing for $23 billion in the legislation to bailout state education accounts. This would mark the third year in a row that the federal government would prop up programs that should be the responsibility of state and local governments, and would perpetuate the cycle of unstable and unbalanced state budgets. In the end, Lewis stated, this would cause even worse fiscal problems for local communities by spurring drastic budget shortfalls once the federal funds run out.

 

“If we continue these bailouts now, the American people will continue to have to pay more and more every year with the same poor result. The reality is that we need to get government spending under control, and make the tough choices that families across the country must make every day with their own household budgets,” Lewis said.