I’m not attacking the idea of paying these veterans and acknowledging their service, but I’m just a little perplexed about the timing and why it is even in this bill that is suppose to create lasting and sustainable growth. In the context of economic stimulus this just seems like something out of left field. Turns out this was a bill in Congress last year, but never got voted on. It probably got pushed into this bill by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who sponsored it in the Senate. Hey, we’re giving money to NASA so why not Filipino veterans?

I’m thoroughly convinced that the sole purpose of “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ is to spend money on anything as quickly as possible. I seriously don’t know what else to say, I’m completely flabbergasted.

“We can’t embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face; that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, or the soaring cost of health care, or falling schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees.”

“They didn’t vote for the status quo — they sent us here to bring change.”

“Then there’s the argument, well, this is full of pet projects.  When was the last time that we saw a bill of this magnitude move out with no earmarks in it?  Not one.  (Applause.)”

“Millions more Americans will lose their jobs.  Homes will be lost. Families will go without health care.  Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue.  That is the price of inaction.”

“I believe that legislation of this enormous magnitude, that by necessity we are moving quickly — we’re not moving quickly because we’re trying to jamb something down people’s throats.  We’re moving quickly because we’re told that if we don’t move quickly, that the economy is going keep on getting worse, and we’ll have another 2 or 3 or 4 million jobs loss this year.”

“Number two, it is expected that we are going to lose about a trillion dollars worth of demand this year, a trillion dollars of demand next year because of the contraction in the economy.  So the reason that this has to be big is to try to fill some of that lost demand.  And as it is, there are many who think that we should be doing even more.  (Applause.)  So we are taking prudent steps.”

“So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill.  What do you think a stimulus is?  (Laughter and applause.) That’s the whole point.  No, seriously. (Laughter.)  That’s the point. (Applause.) “

“But let’s think big right now.  Let’s not think small.  Let’s not think narrowly.”

“This plan will save or create over three million jobs — almost all of them in the private sector.”

No price tag is too big if we believe it will solve all of our problems.

Text of H.R. 1

The CBO’s summary is more straight forward than the Committe on Appropriation’s summary and omits useless opinions like “America should lead the world in transforming the way automobiles are powered.”

There’s just tons of stuff in this thing. It is truly mind boggling how much money will be printed out of thin air. This article from National Review Online has a good breakdown of the bill and listed out the things that will cost more than $10 billion:

• $20.0 billion to increase the maximum benefit under the Supplemental Nutrition Assurance Program (i.e., Food Stamps)
• $18.5 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs
• $20.4 billion for programs administered by the Department of health and Human Services
• $20.0 billion to renovate elementary and secondary schools
• $17.6 billion for Pell grants and other student financial assistance at post-secondary institutions
• $29.1 billion for other elementary and secondary educational programs
• $30.0 billion for highway construction
• $13.1 billion for other transportation programs
• $11.2 billion for housing assistance programs administered by HUD
• $19.5 billion (minimum, could be higher, as per Title XIII) for education grants to states
• $27.1 billion for increase unemployment benefits
• $13.3 billion to increase health insurance for unemployed workers
• $11.1 billion for “Other Unemployment Compensation”
• $20.2 billion for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments to encourage providers to improve healthcare IT

That’s only $271 billion of it. And what do we do if this doesn’t work like the TARP? Spend another $800 billion?