Republican Congressmen and Women Rock!

While the grotesque $819B Bucket of Organic Lard known as the stimulus plan was passed by the House yesterday, it was done without one Republican vote. Eleven brave Democrats also voted nay to this travesty of legislative crap, which was passed with 244-188 votes. While it has been sold to the American people as a package to stimulate jobs, the WSJ reports that only $90B, or 12% of the money will be spent on job creation. The rest of the package includes significant funds for Democrat favored programs such as ACORN, STD prevention, the arts, smoking cessation programs, construction of new ATV trails, etc. etc. The $275B in tax relief will be doled out as a rebate and aimed at primarily lower income individuals who do not pay any federal income taxes. In other words, it's a welfare check. Of course, we know Bush tried the same thing last year, with little stimulatory effect on the economy, and that was BEFORE the crisis hit. Anyone want to guess how much of that $275B in welfare payments will actually be spent to stimulate the economy rather than used to pay a couple of bills? So kudos to the men and women who finally had the guts to stand up and vote No, in the face of hearty opposition. Let's hope that this is the opening salvo in a strong Republican opposition to reckless spending. Finally, I feel that someone is representing the will of so many of us across this country who feel disenfranchised and without a voice in government.

Next up: the Senate vote. This one may be tougher, as Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell has indicated he will not filibuster, and the bill in the Senate has more provisions amenable to the GOP. This is where we come in, folks. Our huge groundswell of phone, email, and fax messages sent to Congressmen screamed NO!, and they listened. We must continue to light up the phones, now in the Senate, and make our voices loud and clear.

Click on the links to the left and find your Senator's contact information. Tell them that the Stimulus Plan as currently written is an outrage and and that you encourage them to vote No. They represent you; not the myriad special interests who have hopped on board this train wreck of a bill. Call Mitch too. He needs to demonstrate the same strength that the House leadership has. We won't stand idly by while they sell us down the river.