Five Points

How "Urgent" Is This?

It took me a couple of days to dig up the quote, but our Congressman, Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC2), spoke on behalf of the stimulus package (HR 1) last week and illustrated one of the main problems with it all:

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the rule for H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and for the underlying bill. This bill provides urgently needed relief for struggling individuals and businesses and will create or retain three to four million jobs in this country.

H.R. 1 includes America's Better Classroom Act, which will provide tax credits to enable up to $25 billion in school construction and modernization, an initiative that I've been working on for over 12 years, along with my colleagues.

In other words, this gigantic bill is an opportunity to enact a proposal that Rep. Etheridge has been unable to bring to passage in six terms in Congress -- including the time under the control of his own party.

And it's a matter of grave urgency now?

(Quotation from Congressional Record: January 28, 2009 (House), page H613)

posted by Hal @ 9:02 AM