America For Purchase

Earlier this year, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 without a single Republican vote in the House of Representatives and with the support of only three Republicans in the Senate. This stimulus bill, which included $552 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts, has provided much-needed support to state and local economies across the country. Cognizant to this fact, conservatives have jumped on the chance to personally deliver stimulus money to their cash-strapped states and districts, while conveniently brushing past their original opposition. A two-faced approach to the stimulus debate has become routine for many Republicans, with many GOP lawmakers who are standing against the stimulus in Washington, D.C., but touting it when they travel home to their constituents.The AP reports that Republicans who opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the stimulus, are nonetheless vigorously pursuing money from the program as several House Republicans who opposed the Recovery Act quickly returned to their districts to tout projects that it funded.

Many GOP members are still shamelessly slamming the stimulus as waste and a failure, yet at the same time more than 70 of these Republican Congressional hypocrites are making internal appeals for more funds.

Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) Guthrie attacked the Recovery Act for its “staggering” costs just days before he urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to consider using stimulus money to renovate a military hospital in his congressional district.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) opposed the stimulus and attacked it as a bloated government giveaway, Sec. Gates to steer $50 million in stimulus money for a bio-energy project. Visiting a food bank aided by money from the stimulus, Chambliss exclaimed last week, “I’m very pleased that the government continues to play a key role, here, from the standpoint of providing food.”

Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK) who called the stimulus a “Big Brother spending program” asked Army Secretary Pete Geren to use $8.4 million in stimulus money for repairs to buildings at two Oklahoma National Guard sites.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told CNS News last month, “I don’t think it [failed] – I know it, and he called the Recovery Act simply “welfare.” However Inhofe hailed $1.9 million in funding for a Claremore regional railroad-based trans-modal facility, noting the investment will “help spur additional economic growth” and that the senator is “happy” about the way the money is being used. Inhofe, of course, makes no mention that the money is authorized by the Recovery Act.

Rep. John Carter (R-TX) opposed the Recovery Act, and called the entire program a failure that should be “repealed.” Regardless, Carter’s public pronouncements did not stop him from requesting $621 million in hospital projects from the stimulus, then calling the funds a victory for the economy in central Texas.

Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), another stimulus opponent, now lists various links on his website to help his constituents “take advantage of the federal stimulus money.”

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), stimulus opponent, met with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D) and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently to solicit stimulus money for streetcar expansions and road repairs. Cao proudly boasted that he is looking “at federal monies that the state has and channeling more of that money to the district.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) asked for stimulus funds to be diverted into paying down the deficit rather than paying it out to states. But the same day he took credit for the construction site at Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County, Kentucky, a project that was funded in large part by the Recovery Act and he continues taking credit for stimulus projects he opposed.

One of the most brazen acts of hypocrisy came from House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), who has repeatedly claimed that the stimulus is “failing” to create jobs. Earlier this month, Cantor appeared at a job fair in Midlothian, VA, to demonstrate how he is working on “long-term solutions that will put Virginia workers back on the path to financial stability.” But scores of jobs advertised at the jobs fair were created by the stimulus, fueled by the stimulus and Chesterfield County, where the fair was being held, will receive more than $38 million in stimulus funding over the next two years.

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), considered a leading figure for the Republican Party said he would’ve voted against the stimulus, saying stimulus that has not stimulated“, toured his state handing out jumbo-sized checks containing millions of dollars of stimulus money. Rather than credit the Recovery Act, which he refers to as a failure, Jindal printed his own name on the checks.

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last year titled “Don’t Bail Out My State,” proudly boasting about being the only governor to travel to Washington to lobby against the stimulus package. Yet after the legislation was passed, Sanford changed his mind and told reporters that being against the Recovery Act “doesn’t preclude taking the money.” In April, Sanford became the last governor to seek economic recovery funds.

Secessionists Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) rejected $555 million in federal stimulus money bemoaning the stimulus would burden tax payers with “higher taxes and expanded obligations” then turned around and asked the federal government for a $170 million loan to ensure the state could pay unemployment benefits.  Perry trumpeted his decision to reject stimulus dollars saying “I believe the federal government has become oppressive,” he said, adding that he might even consider seceding from the Union.  Perry must have forgotten that he balanced Texas’ books with Barack Obama’s stimulus bill, to the tune of $12 billion.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in part because she said the bill “doesn’t actually stimulate. Now Hutchison has attacked incumbent Gov. Rick Perry for turning down the very stimulus money she believed would do nothing for the economy.

Rep. Pete Sessions (TX-32) showed his hypocrisy after asking the Obama Administration for three billion in funds for NASA from the economic recovery act, which he voted against. Members of the Texas delegation signed the letter, including two Republican Senators and 19 House Republicans who all voted against the recovery act in February. [Texas delegation wants stimulus money for NASA, Houston Chronicle, 10/5/09]

Rep. Jack Kingston (GA-01) announced federal funding for his constituents without mentioning that the money comes from the stimulus program. [GOP won't turn down stimulus spending, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10/18/09]

Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10) – “I didn’t support final passage but at the same time I wanted to make sure if we are spending that kind of money that much of that gets directed to Texas.” [KVUE News; 2/22/09]

Texans can be proud of these hypocritical Republican Representatives:

Rep. Joe Barton (TX-06), Rep. Michael Burgess (TX-26), Rep. Mike Conaway (TX-11), Rep. John Culberson (TX-07), Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Rep. Kay Granger (TX-12), Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-04), Rep. Sam Johnson (TX-03), Rep. Kenny Marchant (TX-24), Rep. Randy Neugebauer (TX-19), Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22), Rep. Ron Paul (TX-14), Rep. Ted Poe (TX-02), Rep. Lamar Smith (TX-21), Rep. Mac Thornberry  (TX-13), Rep. Frank Wolf (VA-10) and Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA-11), after asking the Obama Administration for three billion in funds for NASA from the economic recovery act, which they voted against. Members of the Texas delegation signed the letter, including two Republican Senators and 19 House Republicans who all voted against the recovery act in February. [Texas delegation wants stimulus money for NASA, Houston Chronicle, 10/5/09]

See the rest of the hypocritical Republican list at The Stakeholder.

The Recovery Act, the Stimulus Plan is working in spite of Republicans who want America to fail. The Council of Economic Advisers, in a report released earlier this month, called the Recovery Act the “boldest countercyclical fiscal stimulus in American history” and concluded that the stimulus added nearly 500,000 jobs to the economy in the second quarter of 2009 that would not have been there without it. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), one of the few Republicans who voted in favor of the stimulus, noted last March that even “those who were opposed to the stimulus spending will see some of the projects that are underway in their communities as they’ve initiated.” Snowe said she believes that the effect of the spending has been to create an “amazing” number of projects in her home state. On Aug. 7, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who served as Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) chief economic adviser during his 2008 campaign, told reporters that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing.” Three days later, Niall Ferguson of the conservative Hoover Institution said the Recovery Act “has clearly made a significant contribution to stabilizing the US economy.”

This is yet one more example of the shrinking Republican Party and demonstrates they reckless approach to governing in a time of America’s greatest economic recession.

Full Stories see:

Republicans Who Opposed The Stimulus Line Up To Criticize It Publicly, Request More Money Privately

Think Progress

The Stakeholder

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