McConnell pans "second stimulus"

From the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY):

We’re now hearing talk that the administration is thinking of using the bank bailout TARP money that taxpayers reluctantly handed over during last year’s credit crisis on another spending spree like the stimulus, which they said would stop unemployment at eight percent but hasn’t. $1 trillion dollars later, unemployment’s now at 10 percent.

This is not only irresponsible, since the purpose of these emergency funds was to prop up the credit system in the midst of a crisis. It also violates both current law and the pledge we made that every dollar we got back would be returned to the taxpayer to reduce the national debt.

This proposal is completely wrongheaded, but it’s perfectly illustrative of the way Democrats in Congress have been dealing with taxpayer money all year — by throwing it at one problem after another without much regard for the consequences. Whether it’s the Stimulus, Cash for Clunkers, or the health care bill that’s currently on the floor, Americans are running out of patience with politicians who promise jobs, but who deliver nothing but more debt, higher taxes, and longer unemployment lines.

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