Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): Republicans are trying to reform the economic stimulus bill

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

“The package that most of my members would support would be dramatically different from what passed in the House and frankly dramatically different from what we currently see out of the Finance committee and Appropriations committee.” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

In a press conference on “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ McConnell expressed his concerns and beliefs about the trillion dollar economic recovery bill. “We believe, Republicans, that a stimulus bill must fix the main problem first and that’s housing. That’s how all of this began.” McConnell stated that we focus on the two lower tax rates for income tax payers up to 65,000 a year. He suggested lowering the 10% rate to 5% and the 15% rate to 10%.

McConnell said that the second part of the package that will help do the job is that the package be timely, temporary and targeted. “It would put money back in people’s hands directly.” He expressed that there is an attempt underway to use the bill to increase permanent spending. He stated that he thought it was a bad idea no matter how worthwhile the proposals are.

When asked if he thought the trillion dollar figure was large enough McConnell said “Someone mentioned the other day, one of my colleagues, just to put a trillion dollars in context. If you started spending the day Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day you still wouldn’t have spent a trillion dollars. It’s a lot of money.” He said. “We know we need to jump start it but most of my members feel we can do it for less then what is currently proposed.”

Despite the fact that no Republican voted in favor of the bill McConnell said “Nobody that I know of is trying to keep a package from passing… We’re trying to reform it… Put it in a different place.”