FACE OFF: SHOULD CONGRESS SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROPOSAL?

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Dual views on hot topics

The
President's proposed economic stimulus plan has split Congress down party
lines, with Democrats overwhelmingly in favor and House Republicans unanimously
opposed. San Diego's Democratic Congressman Bob Filner and San Diego County
Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric face off with drastically divergent
views on the stimulus proposal. Texts below were submitted to ECM as press
releases issues by these political leaders' offices.

GOP CHAIRMAN TONY KRVARIC PRAISES SAN DIEGOC COUNTY REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVES
FOR VOTING NO ON "WASTEFUL" DEMOCRATIC STIMULUS BILL

Republican Party of San Diego County Chairman Tony Krvaric tonight issued
the following statement in response to the vote in the House of Representatives
concerning the Democrat "stimulus" bill, H.R. 1:

"San Diego Congressmen Darrell Issa, Brian Bibray, and Duncan D. Hunter
voted against the massive partisan Democrat spending bill being marketed as
'economic stimulus.' As a matter of face, the entire Republican
House membership voted against the bill.

"This bill will only stimulate growth in the size of government, stimulate
more government waste, and stimulate growth in the already massive federal
budget deficit, saddling our children and grandchildren with debt repayments
for a program that will not help our economy at this time of crisis.

"The Republican stimulus plan offered tonight differs from the liberal
stimulus in one simple way: it would work. By boosting the economy by cutting
taxes and encouraging Americans to work, save and invest. And it would do so
without further saddling our children with debt, exploding the size of the
bloated federal government.

"If overspending was the key to economic prosperity, our trillion dollar
federal budget deficit would be the creating jobs instead of shedding jobs
by the hundreds of thousands.

"Predictably, local Democrats Susan Davis and Bob Filner voted along party
lines to waste taxpayer dollars and squander the opportunity to create jobs
and instead choose to blow over $800 billion on pork projects that have little
to nothing to do to promote economic growth, including money for climate change
research at NASA, new cars for the federal government, and arts funding.

"Republicans in Washington took a giant step forward today in reasserting
ourselves as the party of fiscal responsibility standing up for the middle
class taxpayer."

CALIFORNIA NEEDS AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN: CONGRESSMAN BOB FILNER SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S PLAN TO CREATE JOBS AND BOOST THE ECONOMY

Just
one week after our new President Barack Obama was sworn in with a call
for "action, bold and swift" to get our economy back on track,
Congress has taken the first step in delivering a job-creating plan to
implement his vision.

This week the House passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, by rebuilding America, making
us more globally competitive and energy independent, and transforming
our economy for long-term growth; giving 95 percent of American workers
an immediate tax cut; and investing quickly in the economy - with 75
percent of these job creating investments in the economy in the next
18 months.

America is facing an economic crisis greater than any since the Great
Depression. A
staggering 2.6 million American jobs were lost in the last year of the Bush Administration
- the culmination of a failed economic approach - one that also nearly doubled
our national debt in eight short years. The unemployment rate here in California
has climbed to 9.3 percent. The need for a New Direction is clear. More
than 140 economists all across the ideological spectrum - including 5 Nobel prize
winners - have called for the recovery legislation to be enacted quickly.

To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign
oil tomorrow, we are seeking to double our renewable energy production
and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient. The energy provisions of
the plan will create more than 500,000 jobs by accelerating deployment of smart
grid technology and the building of new electric transmission lines for renewable
energy, spurring energy efficiency investment in our homes and schools to cut
energy costs,offering support for the nation's governors and mayors to tackle
their energy challenges, and spurring investment in renewable energy and more
fuel-efficient cars for a greener future. We will harness the sun,
the wind, and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.

To create jobs in the short-term and make us more competitive in a global
economy, this economic recovery package invests in science and technology
- the key to American innovation. The plan increases funding for critical research and
development - putting us on the path to double our investment in scientific research
over the next seven years. The package also makes investments in America's
information technology infrastructure, including broadband, health IT, and a
smarter energygrid. More than 100 high-tech CEOs and business leaders have
endorsed these IT investments that will create more than 949,000 U.S. jobs, more
than half of which will be in small businesses.

To reduce health care costs, the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act invests in bringing our health care system into the 21st century
with health information technology - that is proven not only to reduce
costs, but also to increase the quality of care, save lives, and create
jobs. In addition, as millions of people are losing their jobs in this
recession, they are also losing their health insurance. This
package provides those losing their jobs new affordable options for maintaining
their health care coverage. Also, to protect existing Medicaid
coverage for millions of Americans, the package provides $11,069,212,000
here in California in additional federal matching Medicaid funds to help
stave off cuts in health care in the face of massive state budget shortfalls.

Strategic investments in education are one of the best ways to help
America become more productive and competitive - spurring long-term growth. This recovery
package will make bold investments to provide children with a 21st century education. In
California, this means $7,854,800,000 to prevent teacher layoffs and other cutbacks
in education and other key services and $2,430,042,000 to modernize our schools
and colleges, which will create good-paying jobs. It will also make college
more affordable with improved Pell Grants for the 744,236 Pell Grant recipients
here in California and a higher education tax credit for an additional 522,000
students in our state so that they can stay in college despite these tough times. This
recovery package will save or create more than 250,000 jobs in the education
and health care sectors.

To build a 21st century economy, we must create jobs rebuilding our crumbling
roads and bridges, building modern transit systems, and putting people
to work cleaning up our air, water and land. The American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act will make large investments to repair and modernize
thousands of miles of roadways in the U.S., provide new mass transit
options for millions of Americans, and invest in clean water infrastructure. These provisions would create about
1.5 million American jobs nationwide. For California, this will provide
$4,695,000,384 to invest in these key infrastructure projects that are ready
to go and will begin to create jobs for Californians right away.

As a down-payment on permanent middle-class tax cuts promised by President
Obama, the plan includes tax cuts that will jumpstart the economy by
returning money to the hands of 95% of American workers, including 12,570,000
families here in California with the "Making Work Pay" Tax Credit. Expanding the
Child Tax Credit will help the families of 2,075,000 children here in California. The
business tax cuts in the package will also spur new job-creating investments
by businesses largeand small, that will transform our economy for years to come,
such as in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

In this economic crisis, high unemployment and rising costs have put
a huge strain on many American families. The package contains a series of additional
provisions to help, including helping workers train and find jobs, extending
unemployment benefits for 505,923 people here in California, and increasing food
stamp benefits for 2,399,000 people here in California. Not only will these
steps provide relief to American families, they will help jumpstart our economy
as these funds are spent quickly and have the most "bang for the buck" in
creating jobs and spurring economic growth.

The Recovery Plan has unprecedented accountability measures built in
-providing strong oversight and an historic degree of public transparency
including a dedicated website, recovery.gov, which will allow citizens
to track every penny and hold officials accountable for performance.

This legislation does not contain any earmarked projects requested by
a specific Member. These accountability measures are critical to ensuring the effectiveness
of and the confidence in this package.

This package will make our economy stronger than it would be without
any action. It will save or create an estimated 815,990 jobs by the end
of 2010 and reduce the unemployment rate by 2.3 percent here in California,
according to leading independent economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com.

It will take time to turn this economy around, but we are confident
that if Americans work together, we can overcome the economic crisis,
just as we have tackled other great challenges in our nation's past.


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