Republicans Shut Out of Stimulus Conference Negotiations

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.): “I think the American people deserve to know that legislation that would comprise an amount equal to the entire discretionary budget of the United States of America is being crafted without a single House Republican in the room.”

Official Republican conferees, Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Thune (R-S.D.) said that they had no participation in the Senate conference.


FACTS THAT NEED TO BE REMEMBERED:

Although Republicans in Congress, the media, nor the American people have been allowed to read the bill, the House plans to vote on the plan today. The Senate will quickly follow suit so that the bill will hit President Barack Obama's desk by Monday. Even without the full benefit of digesting what is in this trillion dollar debt bill, over 200 economists have expressed their belief that this plan is destined to fail. And conservative economists that once supported the idea of a stimulus are now calling the current plan "An $800 Billion Mistake." Even center left economists like President Bill Clinton’s budget director, Alice Rivlin have told Congress that the long-term spending items in the plan "should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package."