Senator McCain sent an email to supporters explaining his opposition to the current emergency economic stimulus package stating that…
Yesterday, the Senate began debate on an economic stimulus package that is intended to get our economy back on track and help Americans who are suffering through these difficult times. Unfortunately, the proposal on the table is big on the giveaways for the special interests and corporate high rollers, yet short on help for ordinary working Americans. I cannot and do not support the package on the table from the Democrats and the Obama Administration. Our country does not need just another spending bill, particularly not one that will load future generations with the burden of massive debt. We need a short term stimulus bill that will directly help people, create jobs, and provide a jolt to our economy.
He further explains the myriad of problems with this bloated stimulus package and asks for people to sign a petition to voice their disapproval of this bill.
Sign Vote No On The Stimulus Package Petition
Instead of using his time to write this ‘politics as usual’ piece, john mccain should have used his time to try to come up with ways HE can stimulate the economy! His party was in charge so why couldn’t they come up with something then and why would the american people take any advice or trust them now! Mccain sounds like a jealous instigator who’s trying to make Obama look bad but it won’t work!
By: lynn lee on February 3, 2009
at 5:35 pm
McCain has always opposed pork barrel spending and it makes sense he’d oppose this bill as it is incredibly wasteful with earmarks for things like insurance for honeybees. Obama has the opportunity to change ‘politics as usual’ if he can reign in the House Democrat’s desire for pork. There is bipartisan desire for a stimulus package, it’s just that this one is neither targetted, timely, or temporary like the Obama administration stated it should be.
By: kmorrison33 on February 3, 2009
at 6:10 pm
Kudos to John McCain, I’m sure that Obama is still try to figure out what happened to his buddy
By: Kathy Wilkinson on February 3, 2009
at 9:14 pm
Kudos to John McCain. I am sure Obama is still scratching his head trying to figure out why has John forsaken him.
By: Kathy Wilkinson on February 3, 2009
at 9:17 pm
I totally agree with Senator McCain. The following is what I sent to my Senators and Congressman after attempting to understand what is in this bill:
$200 million for contraceptives to support “family planning services”? Good grief! Why?
$200 million to spruce up the National Mall including $21 million for new sod? People are hungry and homeless and you want to “spruce up the National Mall”? Entitlement program.
$15.6 billion to increase maximum Pell Grants? Why? Entitlement.
Tell me, how does the new “American Opportunity” tax credit of up to $2,500 create jobs? Entitlement.
The “Make Work Pay Tax Cut” is a joke, right? How is this going to create jobs? If you really want to stimulate spending, cut the Federal Income Tax rates across the board. These small tax credits do nothing substantial, but only look good on paper. No lesson learned from last year’s “stimulus” pay-out under Bush?
$20 billion for health information technology? This is so all medical records for everyone in the U.S. can be in a central computer, and the beginning of socialized medicine. This is “Big Brother” mentality. Nuts to this. This is a private sector issue and should not be made into another Federal “I’ll-take-care-of-you” debacle.
$3 billion for prevention and wellness? Until you get the pharmaceutical companies and all the food manufacturers to stop making products that are detrimental to society, and stop the advertisement of both, you might as well throw this money in the garbage. These companies have addicted people to both food and drugs, and because of it, people have gotten fat, lazy and a mind-set to let a pill take care of their problems. Have you seen the latest obesity statistics? Private sector institutions have been working on this for years, I.e. Mayo Clinic, but the statistics of obesity and major illnesses are still climbing.
$600 million to train primary care providers? Why should I pay for doctors to be trained? This is the beginning of socialized medicine. You must solve the liability insurance problem for doctors and control health care costs first..
$550 million to modernize aging Indian Health Service facilities? Worthy project, but is just another entitlement program.
$2 billion for the National Institutes of Health to expand biomedical research? More research and not much to show for it. Feed and house the homeless first. Give this money to Habitat for Humanity and other organizations that encourage people to help themselves. Another entitlement program.
$600 million for NASA to put more scientists to work doing climate change research? Why? There are already multiple scientific groups doing this research. Ask Al Gore. Another entitlement program.
$6 billion to expand broadband Internet access to rural and under-served areas? Why spend this money when there are private companies already providing this access via satellite? This is a private sector project and should not be financed by the government.
Plus, the billions of dollars allocated for heating assistance to low-income families ($1 billion), extended unemployment benefits ($9 billion), COBRA extension ($30.3 billion), community organizations to help the most vulnerable ($1 billion), and additional SSI payment to low-income disabled and elderly (4.2 billion), plus other projects and stipulations that are buried in this bill.
All told, this is an excessive spending bill.
This current “recovery” bill is nothing but a smoke screen for special interests and what I consider to be wasteful spending.
WE DON’T NEED:
MORE government assistance programs that make people even more co-dependent on the government. The more co-dependent you make people, the more drain on society. While there are some legitimate circumstances, a lot are not and this allows people to take advantage of the system. Time to weed!
WE DO NEED:
Better training programs as we had back in the 60′s to get people off government assistance and to put them back into the working population.
To stop taxing social security benefits and other pension income so the elderly can stand on their own two feet.
To stop giving money away to people who are not citizens and are nothing but a drain on society.
To concentrate on helping out all businesses, small, medium and large - this will put people back to work. Cut business taxes and give these businesses a break, even if it is just until the economy gets back on its feet again.
To come up with incentives, like cutting corporate taxes, to keep and also bring back work to the U.S., encouraging businesses to manufacture in the U.S. once again. This will put people back to work.
To restructure the income tax so people can keep more money in their pockets so they have something to spend. People, especially the middle class, are asked to carry a heavy tax burden and it is crushing them.
To demand that the IRS be more assertive in collecting back taxes.
To work further on strengthening and straightening out the financial industry so people can get loans again to buy again, not by giving these institutions more money, but regulating them with strict guidelines, making them accountable for their actions, so we don’t see the same scenario 20 years from now.
“Special interests” and “pet projects” are killing this country, along with egos and power-hungry people. Government is too big and it will collapse under its own weight, and the weight starts at the top. The middle class people are trying to hold it up, but are slowly collapsing under the pressure. If you can’t sustain the middle class, you can’t sustain this country.
Leslie Ann Braun
By: Leslie Ann Braun on February 5, 2009
at 7:24 am
Leslie,
I agree with most of your points except the one blaming pharmaceutical and food companies for the nation’s health problems. People need to take responsibility for themselves. Your comment that “these companies have addicted people ” highlights the root cause for most Americans problems, i.e., the “it’s not my fault” mentality.
This type of thinking is why we have frivolous lawsuits and why we have a housing crisis. People who were stupid enough to take the sub-prime loans deserve to have their houses foreclosed. I would have liked to have bought a McMansion, and I could have gotten a loan for one, but the numbers simply didn’t make sense. Now the government is asking me to help these people stay in houses they never should have had in the first place.
Personally, I don’t want the government telling me what I can and cannot eat. Their job is to ensure that I am given the correct information (by the food and drug companies) so I can make those decisions on my own.
By: JohnV on February 5, 2009
at 9:44 am
John V,
I totally agree that people need to take responsibility for themselves, but there are those who prefer that someone else take care of them.
The root cause of our problems is that the information we get from the government, pharmaceuticals companies, food industry and the like are, in fact, laced with misinformation. People are duped into believing that what is on the shelves is “healthy” for them. Read the labels and tell me how much “food” is in a product. Read the labels and tell me the side effects of the medication the doctor wants you to take. We could go on forever about this subject, but this is not the forum for this. Suffice it to say, we are just cattle to these industries.
I wouldn’t say that people were “stupid” in taking out these subprime loans - they were desparate for a piece of the “American Pie” and the government opened the door. The financial institutions were mandated to do these loans and now the haunting begins.
Good luck in getting any “correct information” from any government agency.
The key issue here is: Do we want bigger government, bigger deficit, bigger debt for us and the future generations? I feel the lawmakers are taking the easy way out of this mess by going down the same road, instead of taking their time and being innovative and responsible in spendng our tax dollars, yours and mine. There is no easy answer, but this bill will spend us into oblivion.
I, too, don’t want the government telling me what I can or cannot do, but if you voted for Obama, that’s what you voted for.
By: Leslie Ann Braun on February 5, 2009
at 10:25 am
Totally agree with McCain - there are MANY alternatives to spending recklessly. I’ve run a successful business for over 16 years and it wasn’t because I borrowed money from taxpayers or anyone else.
NO to the current SpendULess bill, Yes to figuring out a REAL SOLUTION over the next few weeks. We’ll survive a few more weeks.
By: Kelly on February 6, 2009
at 1:32 pm
Please stop this SpendULess bill before it’s too late! There are many options and there is nothing but a self-imposed deadline by the Democrats using scare tactics to spend away our futures.
By: SH on February 6, 2009
at 1:40 pm
NO - JUST SAY NO to the so called “stimulus”. We need a viable plan that can actually work not a pork stuffed Democratic love fest of projects that should be under regular budgets. Wake up America!
By: Betty on February 6, 2009
at 1:42 pm
Way to go McCain! Get the government out of our business. If the government wants to stimulate the economy, reduce the federal income tax…but don’t force our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to pay for all of this entitlement nonsense.
God Bless America and freedom of speech…and tell Stabenow of Michigan to take care of her state…if it was not for talk radio, we would not know anything that is going on.
By: Becky on February 6, 2009
at 5:37 pm
As usual, another ignorant republican. An internet petition is totally worthless. Anyone who signs one thinking they are making a statement ought to have his/her head examined. Your name typed on a petition means nothing. Yep, McCain really IS totally ignorant.
By: Robert Lee on February 8, 2009
at 12:45 pm
Hey, John. Read my lips. YOU LOST, Get over it, and go the hell away with your idiot running mate and Joe the Jerk. You are a joke
By: Nancy Mac on February 8, 2009
at 2:41 pm
I vote NO on Obama’s stimulas plan.
By: Dianne DiBiasi on February 9, 2009
at 9:33 am
Just vote “NO” on Obama’s stimulas package
By: Dianne DiBiasi on February 9, 2009
at 9:33 am
vote NO on Obama’s stimulas package
By: John R Sabo on February 9, 2009
at 9:44 am
Please Vote NO on the Obama Stimulus Plan!!
Obama tried to be ‘cute’ and ‘comical’ this past Friday night as he was speaking to the House Dems at their retreat in Williamsburg, VA at a LUXURY Resort Hotel!
[By the way, speaking of how much money the Detroit auto makers and Wall Street CEO's spend so lavishly on flying private jets and having retreats at luxury spas, etc. -I wonder - how much did Obama's 45-60 min. short trip from Washington to Williamsburg, VA, on Air Force One cost us taxpayers? Anyone privy to that information?? All those $$$ for a 15 minute speech and Dinner with friends??? H-mm-m! Funny how the rules change in the Obama administration! ]
In his brief speech on Friday night, Obama was making sport of the Republicans for their stance, saying “..a stimulus bill IS a ‘spending’ bill!’ It’s easy to be ‘cute’and get a laugh at the Republicans, when you’re among friends and taking shots at the so-called enemy. But this stimulus bill is certainly not a wise spending plan with all the PORK as proposed by Obama,Reid,Pelosi and their Dem ‘croonies’!
The Dems are only trying to force [or sneak] through their ‘wishlist’ agenda drawn up over the past 30-40 years, and call it ‘ A STIMULUS Plan!’ This plan with it’s pork, will put our grandchildren,their children and grandchildren in debt for years to come! Some Change!!! Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it!
Please, vote NO on the Obama stimulus plan!
By: Don Swaim on February 9, 2009
at 11:38 am
This stimulus package is obviously a pork package. Just take a minute to look at it. There is so much non-stimulus garbage in it, that Obama should be ashamed to promote it. But it’s all about politics, isn’t it? Most of the pork products in it are pay backs for being party loyalists. That being said, where will America really be a few years from now? This administration is moving forward with their agendas to quickly, for the supposed good of America, for my liking. I am willing to give Obama a chance but, he is sounding more like a dictator, than an elected official with his agendas.
By: Zoki on February 10, 2009
at 11:13 pm
Just want to add my voice in protest of this disaster!
I am disgusted with the fear based speeches that are an insult to my intelligence.
How can they justify something that will put us in debt for generations, take years to make a difference when the problem will right itself in a year, if taxes are lowered.
I am one of the 17% in NM who voted Republican.
I am terrified of “Universal Health Care”.
By: Donna H. Schilling on February 11, 2009
at 6:02 pm
I too disagree with the stimulis package, if we take out everything but tax cuts and the minimum amount needed to fund absolutely necessary programs, not new ones. We need to get out the helathcare line.
Thank you,
By: Linda Comfort on February 11, 2009
at 6:52 pm
in texas we are now tying a black ribbon to our car antennas and tying one to our front doors in protest to this stimulus package and our irresponsible government.
By: justmentx on February 15, 2009
at 12:17 am
I have deep stretch marks will this help to vanish them?
By: Smoke Assassin on March 11, 2010
at 4:31 pm