Stimulate This!

Posted by Scott Bannon

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Republicans in the Senate have been delaying the passage of the Stimulus Bill by feigning shock and fear-mongering to the American people over various portions of the Bill which account for far less than 10% of the entire spending.

Now, certainly the amount isn’t my issue. I don’t want a penny of wasted spending because those are my pennies and I want them used wisely.

But lets be non-partisan and objective for just a moment and look at it realistically.

This stimulus plan has 2 honest objectives, both of which are critical to seeing our economy rebound and prosper into the future.

First, it must create a lot of immediate new jobs for today. The so-called “shovel in hand” jobs that you’ll hear elected officials and pundants speak of.

And second (and equally important), it must create trained workers for tomorrow. This means investing in ourselves and our children on a sincere scale. The jobs of tomorrow do not require strong backs and brute force capabilities, they require strong minds and efficient time usage if we’re going to compete in the global markets.

You can’t separate these two goals. Newly created jobs are great and put people to work today, but those bridges, roads and building we’re updating and creating are temporary projects, and these new jobs will vanish in a short period of time.

At that point we had better be ready for what will be required from our work force or we’ll find ourselves in the same position and without infrastructure rebuilding to rely on again for stimulus job creation.

So when I hear Republican Senator’s ranting about the Pell grant and other educational and scientific projects inclusions in this plan its like listening to someone scrape their fingernails on a chalkboard.

The only positive to these Republican stall tactics is knowing that our young people who are affected most by them are engaged and paying attention to what our leaders do and say now. These delays, and those committing them will be remembered and ‘rewarded’ appropriately in their individual re-election bids.

Honestly, I’ve written ad nauseam on my disdain for wasteful Washington spending, but I have yet to hear from Republicans in this pseudo-standoff of a single thing in the Bill that doesn’t fall into one of the two prime objectives of the plan, and many fall under both objectives.

For example, one Senator has gone on and on about the spending in this Bill for upgrading some federal vehicles. This same Senator supported giving taxpayer’s money to the auto-industry in a bailout package, but apparently he has a problem with asking them to work for taxpayer dollars like this specific project point would? Yes, I see that as feigned outrage.

A group of Senators want cuts from the Bill to IDEA funding for special education and Title I education funding targeted to economically disadvantaged schools, arguing these have no place in a Stimulus Bill.

Any sane person can understand how investing in education does train tomorrow’s workforce for the actual challenges they’re going to face, and if we’re still looking at this realistically, the funding will create teaching jobs right now. So these portions fo the Bill actually fall within the scope of both objectives and certainly belong in a sincere stimulus plan.

Another Senator was on a CBS show today and cited funding for the national park service, the census bureau, cleaning up abandoned mines and providing funding for the US Marshals service as areas she wanted to see cut from the Bill.

Is she serious??? Every single one of those creates and funds jobs. Exactly which part of creating jobs and work as an objective for stimulating the economy does she not understand?

Oh wait, maybe she’s one of those Republicans, yes, there are a few who are using this delay and these individual items along with their fear-mongering slanted descriptions in order to impose their personal agenda of forcing federal funds from this Bill to be permitted to be used for religious teachings and activities.

For them, including educational funding in this Bill is perfectly fine, just as long as those dollars can be used to benefit and spread their mythological beliefs.

This is all partisan, idealogical GARBAGE AS USUAL!

This is hurting our nation!

I hope this is remembered at election booths from coast to coast in the coming years.

NOTE: I am commenting, not reporting, on current events, therefore have refrained from placing specific names in this posting. The officials I refer to and their words and tactics are easily found by anyone who cares to learn them. My goal is not to call out any specific persons, but rather to point out the ridiculous actions of our leadership and their lack of leadership regarding the stimulus plan right now.