Utah's Congressional Republicans disparage economic stimulus bill; Matheson votes yes

Utah's four Republicans in Congress opposed final passage of the economic stimulus bill Friday and disparaged it, while the state's lone Democrat voted for it and sang its praises.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said, "Everyone agrees our economy faces a crisis and that action is needed to pump up the economy. Utah stands to gain 30,000 jobs from the projects that will be funded and families will see more money in their paychecks every week."

He added, "Doing nothing would be to risk a deep and prolonged downward spiral for Utah communities. And while this bill isn't perfect, I support its main goals."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, however,called the bill "an atrocious act of political expediency and legislative malpractice."

Chaffetz added, "It is jam-packed with pork-barrel spending, funding for 'feel good' Democratic Party priorities and payback for special interest groups. There is little which is at all desirable to Utahns."

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said, "This bill is not focused on job creation, and is not what President Obama said he wanted. Democrat leaders in Congress made a bad bill worse by cutting back on tax relief to pay for more big government spending. The problem isn't just the amount of money spent, but that the money spent simply won't solve the problems."

Bishop added, "The process was also poor. Maybe when Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi (D-Calif.) promised 48 hours to review the bill, she actually meant four to eight hours, since Democrats didn't release the bill until midnight — just hours before debate started this morning."

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, told the Senate, "I wish I could support this stimulus package," but said he could not because it was full of "larded spending" that will not stimulate the economy but simply score political points for Democrats by pushing programs they favor.

Bennett said the stimulus was an "opportunity that has been squandered." He added, "The economy is in serious trouble and we need to do the very best we can to restore confidence in our economy and in our future … confidence is what it is all about," and said the package will not restore it.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, "With the amount of money spent in this bill, you could give every man, woman and child in America $4,000. I think Utahns and all Americans would put $1.2 trillion to better use than what this bill does." The $1.2 trillion is the Republican estimate of the total cost of the bill when interest is included.

Hatch added, "Faced with a serious recession, we need to do our very best to get the economy moving again. Instead, it looks like this body will settle for a partisan bill that could well fail to do the job our nation requires."

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