The "Proposed" Stimulus Package

Ladies,

I know as many of you do, that Almighty God is in control of our futures. God has also given us many resonsibilites to help and love our neighbors and if we keep silent we will have our selves to blame. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, and as such we must be aware of the current issues facing our families and society at large. "The pen is mightier than the sword", and I would have to remind all of what God has said as well...

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water:

he turneth it whithersoever he will. Proverbs 21:1

The following is an email I received in reply to my concerns over the "proposed" stimulus package. As we are in prayer and communion with our God, He will lead light our path.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much!

January 15, 2009

Mrs. Monika Hardy

Dear Monika: Thank you for contacting me regarding President-elect Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus package. I share your concerns and welcome the opportunity to respond. As you may know, the President-elect recently proposed stimulus legislation that would combine direct aid to states and localities with tax relief for consumers and businesses, among other things. This legislation is projected to cost a minimum of $750 billion over two years.

Mr. Obama has not issued an official, final proposal and his transition team is currently working with congressional leaders and committees in hopes of producing a final package that can pass Congress in the near future. I have several concerns with the plan in its current form. For example, the package is threatening to become an avalanche of special funding, much of which is unrelated to stimulating our economy as a whole. For example, recent testimony at a Senate Budget Committee hearing stated that the most recent stimulus package - which provided personal checks to taxpayers - did not stimulate the levels of consumer spending that had been anticipated. In other words, government rebates do not stimulate large increases in consumer spending. Additionally, news about the much-heralded package of tax breaks looks to be somewhat overblown: indications are that much of the package will include refundable tax credits to those who pay no taxes in the first place, which basically amounts to an increase in spending, not tax cuts. These proposals have led to valid concerns being raised by both Democrat and Republican Senators. On January 7, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its budget outlook for Fiscal Years 2009-2019. With a sobering prediction that this year's deficit will total $1.2 trillion (without factoring the cost of any new stimulus bill), the report cites what many already know or suspect: the slowdown in economic activity and policy responses to challenges in the housing and financial markets have significantly affected the federal budget.

Solutions to this staggering problem are not simple or short-term. According to the CBO, declines in federal receipts from individual and corporate income taxes will continue, largely due to major losses in asset values. And, any stimulus package will only add to the already skyrocketing deficit. The new deficit numbers indicate that we are faced with the proposition of borrowing an additional $1 trillion to spend now on a stimulus bill. "We cannot spend our way to prosperity, and so it is time to stop digging by continuing to borrow money from future generations, and shifting it around from one person or group to another. Doing so does not lead to long-term investment, growth and economic stabilization."

As a member of both the Senate Finance and Senate Budget Committees, I will be reviewing the upcoming economic stimulus package in coming weeks and the federal budget when it is released later this winter. It is imperative that we focus on creating jobs, cutting spending, and lowering the burdens on individuals, families and businesses in order to stimulate real, sustained, long-term growth, as opposed to short-term, ineffective measures that will simply add to the deficit without providing real relief to Idaho's taxpayers and families. Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to contact me in the future on this or other matters of interest to you. For more information about the issues before the U.S. Senate as well as news releases, photos, and other items of interest, please visit my Senate website, http://crapo.senate.gov/.

Sincerely, Mike CrapoUnited States Senator

As we pray God bends low to hear us. Pray on!