Marathon Pundit: McConnell lashes out on the stimulus bill

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money."
Sen. Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-IL), 1896-1969.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) holds the position Dirksen once had, that of the Senate minority leader.

McConnell, who has been a forceful opponent of Barack Obama's increasingly unpopupular stimulus bill, was channeling the sage from Pekin, Illinois this morning.

From a speech McConnell gave on the Senate floor this morning:

"According to the news reports, President Obama called Congressional Democrats down to the White House the other night to talk about treating this bill more like a stimulus and less like a free for all. I commend him on the effort. And I appreciate it.

"But after yesterday it looks like they might need stronger medicine. The day after meeting with President Obama, Democrats offered several amendments — and every single one of them ADDED to the total cost of what is already nearly a trillion-dollar spending bill.

"Eleven billion here, 25 billion there, another $6 billion somewhere else. In other words: real money.

"By the end of the first day of debate, Democrats had added more than $41 billion to a bill that just about everybody else in America thought was already too big.

"On this side, Republicans offered some amendments too. All but one sought to reduce the cost to the taxpayer.

"The President has tried to set some priorities. Unfortunately, Democrats just keep throwing more money on top of an already-bloated bill."