REPORT: After Voting To Kill Recovery, 110 GOP Lawmakers Tout Its Success, Ask For More Money

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Today marks the one year anniversary of President Obama signing into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. As the economy continued to crater after President Bush left office, Obama’s stimulus sought to provide tax cuts for 95% of working Americans, funds to buoy cash-strapped state governments, new construction and infrastructure projects, and other programs to create jobs, retrain workers, and promote economic activity throughout the country. In December, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the stimulus had successfully created up to 1.6 million jobs, and today, a report shows the Recovery Act will ultimately create 2.5 million jobs. Even the conservative American Enterprise Institute found that the stimulus had boosted the U.S. economy by 4 percent. House Republican leaders have fought to maintain partisan unity in their effort to kill the stimulus. And they were largely successful. Every single Republican in the House and every single Republican in the Senate — with the exception of Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter — voted against the Recovery Act. By drawing a sharp distinction between Obama and the GOP, Republican leaders gambled on casting the stimulus as a failure in order to win elections in 2010. In a coordinated effort, Republicans have used every opportunity to attack the stimulus for allegedly failing to create “a single job.”

Last month, President Obama admonished Republicans for going to “ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against.” It’s true: Last year, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) appeared at a ribbon cutting event for GetAbout Columbia’s MKT Plaza, a pedestrian walking and recreation area funded by the stimulus. (See picture at top right.)

ThinkProgress has investigated opponents of the Recovery Act, reporting throughout the year that many of the lawmakers who tried to kill the legislation have been returning to their home states to claim credit for popular stimulus programs. In a new research report, ThinkProgress finds that over half of the GOP caucus, 110 lawmakers — from the House and Senate — are guilty of stimulus hypocrisy. Among some of the key findings:

–

Top Republican Senate Recruits Are Stimulus Hypocrites:

As ThinkProgress reported,

Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE)

, a candidate for Senate, touted over

$5 million

in

stimulus programs

he voted to kill.

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)

, the GOP nominee for Senate in Illinois,

signed a letter

urging Gov. Pat Quinn to provide “Recovery Act (ARRA) funding to expand the Illinois Community College Sustainability Network.”

–

GOP Leadership Leads The Way In Hypocrisy:

Although he regularly slams the stimulus as a waste while in DC,

McConnell

has

returned to Kentucky

to take credit for stimulus programs, even taking time to request more funds. ThinkProgress attended two job fairs held by

Cantor

, where we found

dozens of employers

able to hire directly because of the stimulus. Indeed, even

Boehner’s

office released a statement boasting that the stimulus will create “

much needed jobs

.”

–

The Audacity Of Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds:

Many opponents of the stimulus have been quite brazen with their ability to try to claim credit for the program. For instance,

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)

spent the morning of

July 28th

railing against the stimulus, yelling “Where’s the stimulus package? Where’s the jobs?” on the House floor. On the same day of his rant, Kingston’s office sent out multiple press releases bragging that he had secured hundreds of thousands in stimulus funds to hire additional police officers in his district. Other stimulus opponents, like

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)

— who has called the stimulus a “trillion dollar debt bill” — have printed out

jumbo-sized

ceremonial stimulus checks to present to local communities to try to garner positive press.

Individually, over half of the entire Republican caucus has hailed nearly every aspect of the stimulus as a success — from infrastructure funds, to food programs, to education grants. But politically, admitting its success might harm the GOP’s chances in November. So with Republicans fixated on winning politically, they have focused on deceiving the public by calling the stimulus a failure, while pretending successful programs aren’t stimulus funded.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/17/stimulus-hypocrisy-101/

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bump

[alienlovechild 75]

It's shocking to learn that politicians won't turn down "free money" for their districts and states. Everyone knows the Federal government justs prints more money so there's no problem.

Greed is good in DC.

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Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), the GOP nominee for Senate in Illinois, signed a letter urging Gov. Pat Quinn to provide “Recovery Act (ARRA) funding to expand the Illinois Community College Sustainability Network.”

Good! I'm glad he's doing his part for the people of his District. I think I'll vote for him for Senate in November.

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Good! I'm glad he's doing his part for the people of his District. I think I'll vote for him for Senate in November.

He's wanted:

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He's wanted:

You don't live in Illinois. I do. You don't get to vote for him. I do. HA! I will send him to the Senate just to mock you

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Obviously Faux News is highly successful, or the Republican con game would not be half as successful as it appears to be at this point. Hard to believe that the general public is falling for this sort of garbage. Harder still to believe the Democrats are too timid to adequately address the issue.

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You don't live in Illinois. I do. You don't get to vote for him. I do. HA! I will send him to the Senate just to mock you

I think you should run for Illinois State Senator of the Sheeple.

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I think you should run for Illinois State Senator of the Sheeple.

Wanna be my campaign manager? I heard a rumor that the Australian contingent of VJ is willing to fund my warchest. And... they're .... OFF!!!!

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Wanna be my campaign manager? I heard a rumor that the Australian contingent of VJ is willing to fund my warchest.

All he (the Australian contingent) would have to do is sublet half a room of his massive condo to fund your warchest, you puny American.

[scandal 951]

All he (the Australian contingent) would have to do is sublet half a room of his massive condo to fund your warchest, you puny American.

I'm not a puny American. I'm a Canadian/Israeli anchor-baby American. And don't you forget it, neither.

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And don't you forget it, neither.

The Michael Savage contingent on VJ won't let me.

[Ali G. 37]

I'm not a puny American. I'm a Canadian/Israeli anchor-baby American. And don't you forget it, neither.

Anyways, what you are is the man.

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The Michael Savage contingent on VJ won't let me.

Your new avatar is making me think of Michael Savage. Why is that?

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Your new avatar is making me think of Michael Savage. Why is that?

Because unlike most who only see what's on the outside, you see what's on the inside.