MASSIVE GOVERNMENT STIMULUS HAS NOT HELPED CATERPILLAR AS PROMISED

Schock:  While the stimulus bill has not helped workers, it has saddled them and their children with mindboggling additional debt.

Washington D.C. – A little more than a month after passage of the President’s economic stimulus bill, it has become reality that the hype and promises Caterpillar would not proceed with planned layoffs and rehire laid off workers if Congress passed the stimulus bill was inaccurate.

Congress did pass the stimulus bill and the President got everything he wanted from Congress.  Yet, today Caterpillar announced even more layoffs.  These additional layoffs confirm CAT workers were misused by the Administration as justification for the stimulus bill.

“These additional layoffs are a result of the on-going recession,” said Schock.  “Sadly, the false hopes that passage of the stimulus bill would enable them to keep their jobs are now a horrible letdown.  I opposed the stimulus bill because only 6 percent of this massive bill was for infrastructure.  I supported legislation that would have created twice the jobs at half the price, and included more funding for infrastructure that would have increased the demand for Caterpillar machinery.”

“In my speech against passage of the flawed stimulus bill, I said ‘this bill is too big to get it wrong,’ but these layoffs are another sign that they did get this bill wrong,” continued Schock.  “As a result, we have little increased infrastructure construction, more layoffs, dashed hopes, massive wasteful spending and vastly increased debt.”

“I will join the President and colleagues in Congress if they are willing to embark on a sensible agenda that would lead to economic growth,” Schock concluded.  “The challenges we face are too important not to.”

Schock Calls for Exit Strategy on Government Bailouts in the Wake of Outrageous AIG Executive Bonuses

Washington, D.C. – In the wake of the news AIG has awarded executive bonuses totaling $165 million, Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) issued the following statement:

“The recent revelations that AIG is using taxpayer dollars to award $165 million in executive bonuses are simply outrageous. Taxpayers are not receiving an adequate accounting from the Treasury Department or from those companies receiving taxpayer funds. My amendment to H.R. 384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act, would have established a website to track these funds. Unfortunately, the Senate has thus far failed to consider this legislation. This news regarding AIG executives receiving egregious bonuses, while leaving taxpayers to continue bailing out these firms, is the clearest example of why an exit strategy from this government involvement in private business is essential. I believe the Administration and Congress should recover these bonuses by any means and present taxpayers with an exit plan as soon as possible.”

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Well see if it works.

UPDATE: It didn't. Here's the YouTube video. We;ll see how long it takes NBC to remove it:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“He takes all the air out of the room, politically, here in Peoria,” says Bill Dennis, who writes the blog Peoria Pundit. “Either you think he’s the greatest thing ever, or you’re deeply suspicious of him. I’m suspicious of him because he’s so eager to get ahead in office.”

I have several things I need to say.

First, would it KILL print publication that put their articles on the Web to insert a clickable link to the blogs they mention in their article. I mean, show a brother some love, wouldya?

Second, I said a LOT of things about Aaron Schock. I talked to this reporter two months ago. We spoke for about an hour, I think.  And THIS was the quote they pulled out. Not surprising, ’cause it’s a good quote

I’m a libertarian. I suspicious about ALL politicians.

A heads-up from my inbox: A profile on U.S. Rep Aaron Schock will be airing tomorrow morning, Friday Feb. 27, on NBC’s “Today Show” at 7:30 EST/6:30 CST.

Aaron Schock just did a Politico podcast interview about, in large part, being named the Huffington Post’s Hottest Freshman in Congress. After the interviewer thanked him “for blessing us with your hotness today,” the congressman offered an acceptance speech of sorts, saying “I’m honored for the title, but one thing that will change with my tenure is my age and invariably my looks, so I guess I better enjoy it while it lasts.”

Schock then revealed which beauty products he relies on: “Shampoo, conditioner, a shaver, some shaving cream, once in a while I’ll use some Kiehl’s face wash…”

Seriously. The interview ends with a pop culture quiz. He scored 1 out of 5.

No questions about the stimulus. No questions about Burris or Blagojevich. Not even a question about Nukes to Taiwan. Even the Peoria Journal Star and its most fawning would ask about current affairs. It’s not fair to news consumers and not to Schock. Whether or not you like what he says, he is capable of speaking off the cuff about current affairs.

Listen to Schock’s fake laugh. He found the whole thing a pain and an insult.

This exchange lays out my reasons:

“I found it very interesting that after the President finished his speech and I stayed around, not one employee at that facility approached me and asked me to vote for this bill,” Schock said. “In fact, I have received over 1,400 phone calls, e-mails, and letters from Caterpillar employees alone asking me to oppose this legislation.”

“Why? Because they get it. They know that this bill is not stimulus. They know that this bill will not do anything to create long-term, sustained economic growth,” he said.

Gibbs, the White House press secretary, was asked about Schock’s comments during the regular daily briefing today.

“I think if the Congressman goes and looks at the bill through an economic lens … not just through a political one, I think he’ll see benefits not just for his district and his state but for the entire country,” Gibbs said.

Schock spokesman Dave Natonski shot back, “Congressman Schock was looking through an economic lens when he voted against the stimulus package, as it doesn’t take an economic expert to realize this so-called stimulus package was nothing more than wasteful, pork-barreled spending that would stimulate the government, not the economy.”

An aiside: This passage is from the Washington Times article Schock: No awe for Obama or stimulus. Folks, can we officially call a moritorium on the use of “awe” in any headline about Schock? Please?

The stimulus DOES have parts to it that make sense. There are a ton of unmet infrastructure needs, and it makes sense to put people to doing these projects. That sort of government spending makes sense as a way to stimulate the economy, because it’s the sort of government spending that SHOULD have been going on during the past to decades, but wasn’t.

But most of this bill’s spending isn’t about infrastructure. It’s about doling out cash to prop up unessential government programs.

And they are doing it in a way that would make the media AND most Democrats scream in outgage were the Bush administration and a Republican Congress doing the same thing.

Obama ran on a platform of more hope and less fear. Now, he’s telling us that the time to panic is now.

No. It is not. And anyone who says “slow down” is accused of mouthing Rush Limbaugh talking points or with applying for a job with FOXNews. Or, it’s rationalised away by saying Bush got away with it, so it’s unfair to criticize Obama.

Please. If you are going to make an argument on this blog, make it a rational argument, not name calling or a sputtering “but, but, but Bush …”  like you are some seven-year-old upset about how Life Is Not Fair.

Schock Calls for Public House – Senate Stimulus Negotiations

 Calls for Stimulus conference negotiations to be open to public

 Washington, D.C. – Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) issued the following statement calling for an open and public forum for House – Senate negotiations on the stimulus bill.  House rules dictate that there must be an open hearing for conference committee negotiations.

 “Given the billions of taxpayer dollars at stake in the stimulus, negotiations between the House and Senate must be completely open and transparent.  American taxpayers deserve to know how and where the government plans to spend their money.  I believe it is an open invitation to trouble to keep these negotiations closed.”

 “Allowing this historically enormous spending package to be negotiated between a small handful of people behind closed doors would eliminate accountability to the American taxpayers and wholly undermine all efforts at bipartisanship.”

“I support fast action but not at the expense of getting this wrong.  We need to work in an expeditious and bipartisan manner to proceed under full sunlight so taxpayers can have full faith in this process and the resulting economic stimulus bill.”

It’s official! Nearly 10,000 of you voted in our “Who’s The Hottest Congressional Freshman?” poll, and Republican Representative Aaron Schock is the winner, taking home 34.88% of the vote. Second place goes to Representative Glenn Nye, a Democrat from Virginia who gained the approval of 24.03% of you.