Mo. Sen. Kit bond critical of stimulus plan

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The president’s economic stimulus bill will drive up costs and increase the debt, all the while potentially making the economy even worse, Sen. Kit Bond said Monday.

The Missouri Republican spoke briefly to the media during a stopover at Lambert Airport in St. Louis before flying to Washington. He acknowledged the $827 billion Senate version would likely pass when it comes to a vote on Tuesday. It must still be reconciled with the House’s $820 billion version. Senate and House negotiators hoped to have a bill on President Barack Obama’s desk by the end of this week or the beginning of next.

“Unfortunately, this bill stimulates the debt, it stimulates the growth of government, but it doesn’t stimulate jobs,” Bond said. “More important, it doesn’t provide the basic need we have in this country to deal with the problems we have in the home industry and the credit market.”

Obama was in Elkhart, Ind., on Monday, speaking to everyday Americans in an effort to build support for the massive infusion of government spending. He said the proposal is “not perfect. But it is the right size, it is the right scope.” And, he said, “delay or paralysis” in Washington would deepen the country’s crisis.

But Bond said lawmakers shouldn’t be in a hurry to approve what he called a bad plan.

“What we really need to do is provide immediate tax relief for working families and small businesses,” Bond said. “We need to provide jobs through shovel-ready projects, and I believe we have lot of those in roads and highways and bridges and mass transit and locks and water and sewer projects.”

A spokeswoman for Bond’s Missouri colleague in the Senate, Democrat Claire McCaskill, said McCaskill not only supports the president’s plan but helped craft the Senate version. Spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said the compromise cuts out spending some senators considered wasteful, and she noted that the bill calls for significant tax cuts.

Two key players in crafting the version now before the Senate — Maine Republican Susan Collins and Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson — said they believe the bill is the best that can be achieved in the current circumstances. Collins believes the bill will help create 3.5 million jobs.

Bond said 19 out of 20 calls to his office are against the stimulus package. He noted that with interest, the cost of the plan will eventually exceed $1 trillion.

“A trillion dollars is a terrible thing to waste,” he said.

 

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