Missouri’s newest Congressman returns to a familiar setting: the State Capitol.
Northeast Missouri Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer’s old colleagues in the Missouri House asked him to return to provide an update on the economic stimulus package being debated in Washington, a bill Luetkemeyer believes has expanded well beyond its original intent.
“This bill was promoted by the president as a tax-cut and infrastructure stimulus package,” Luetkemeyer tells the Missourinet during his visit to the Capitol. “When it arrived in the House, there in D.C., it was $275 billion worth of tax cuts; it was $65 billion worth of infrastructure stimulus and almost $500 billion worth of spending.”
The nearly trillion dollar bill has grown in the Senate, but at least in a direction Luetkemeyer can appreciate. The Senate has added tax breaks.
“I think things that have proven to work in the past have been tax cuts, where you put money in people’s hands and let them decide how to spend it,” Luetkemeyer says, “Government does not create jobs, people create jobs, businesses create jobs, small businesses especially”
Luetkemeyer claims the bill now contains what he calls a lot of “silly pork”, creates 32 new programs and doesn’t contain enough accountability.
He expects the bill to return to the House in a much different form.
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