Tulsa World

Stimulus bill lacks real stimulus

by: SEN. JIM INHOFE
Thursday, February 12, 2009
2/12/2009 3:40:49 AM

Link to Op-Ed

This week I voted against a massive government-spending bill that provided plenty in the way of more wasteful government spending and little in the way of real stimulative opportunities like transportation and defense spending.

In fact, the total infrastructure funding, including highways, transit, rail, airports, clean and safe drinking water programs, and the Army Corps of Engineers, all adds up to less than 7 percent of the total bill. Much-needed spending on our nation's highways comes in at a mere 3 percent of the bill.

So while many in Washington are trying to sell this stimulus as a bill that includes a significant amount for ready-to-go infrastructure projects, clearly the numbers tell a different story.

That is the primary reason I voted against the Senate bill.

If we are going to call this package a stimulus bill, then we need to direct resources to programs that have demonstrated the ability to create jobs immediately. Other than tax cuts, there are no programs in this bill with a more demonstrated job creation capability than infrastructure and defense.

To rectify my concerns, I introduced two amendments to increase the percentage of this enormous bill to go toward infrastructure and defense.

Unfortunately, neither succeeded.

I worked closely with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and a bipartisan group of colleagues to offer an amendment to add $50 billion to highway, transit, and clean and safe drinking water programs, all without adding to the price tag of the bill.

Our amendment would have moved money from programs that are not stimulating the economy to ones that are ready to put people to work immediately. It would take any money that expires at the end of this fiscal year along with funds within the stimulus that are not obligated within 13 months of enactment, up to $50 billion. Our amendment would then redirect those funds to highway, transit and water projects that are ready to have a contract awarded within 120 days of receiving this money.

States, cities and counties across the country have provided more than $100 billion worth of ready-to-go highway projects that could be obligated in fewer than 180 days. This doesn't include the $16 billion in transit and $30 billion in clean and safe drinking water projects that can put people to work immediately.

It is important to note that even with the additional funding provided by our amendment we would still be well below the capacity of state and local governments to create jobs through ready-to-go construction projects.

I also introduced an amendment to increase the percentage of defense spending in the bill. Investing in our nation's defense provides thousands of sustainable American jobs and provides for our nation's security. Major defense procurement programs are all manufactured in the U.S.; our aerospace industry alone employs more than 655,000 workers spread across most of the country.

My amendment would have increased defense procurement spending by $5.3 billion to manufacture or acquire vehicles, equipment, ammunition and materials required to reconstitute military units. It would appropriate $5.232 billion, with a full offset within the bill, for procurement for the Department of Defense to reconstitute military units to an acceptable level of readiness.

This funding would have procured aircraft, tracked and non-tracked combat vehicles, missiles, weapons, ammunition, communications equipment, maintenance equipment, naval boats and ships, salvage equipment, riverine equipment, expeditionary material handling equipment and other expeditionary items.

It would also not increase the overall cost of the bill as it identified frivolous spending proposals currently included in the bill as offsets.

We know what works. My two amendments would have added the 4 million jobs President Obama keeps talking about. It is clear that infrastructure investment, along with defense spending and tax cuts, has a greater stimulative impact on the economy than anything else the government can do.

This "stimulus" bill took the wrong course of action by not prioritizing those concepts and will not help responsibly stimulate the economy.