After being called back to Washington, D.C. from Congress\u2019 August recess by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a $26 billion \u201cjobs bill\u201d that is in large part a bailout for teachers unions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to the vote, Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) summed up what the House was up to during a must-read floor speech:<\/p>\n
Mr. Speaker:\u00a0 Many people are asking why Congress is here today.\u00a0 I think the answer\u2019s pretty simple: we\u2019re not bankrupting the country fast enough and so we need to come back and spend more.<\/p>\n
In the merciful week that Congress was not in session, my constituents had one message: STOP THE SPENDING.\u00a0 Obviously, Congress isn\u2019t listening.<\/p>\n
Over the past two years, this administration and this Congress have increased spending by nearly 18 percent and run up more debt in two years than the irresponsible Bush administration did in all of its eight years combined.\u00a0 Meanwhile, unemployment has increased from 7.6 to 9.5 percent.\u00a0 Yet the problem in the view of House Democrats is that we just haven\u2019t spent enough.\u00a0\u00a0 So we gather here today to shovel another $26 billion at the problem. \u2026<\/p>\n
Mr. Speaker, with the nation now some 13.2 trillion in debt \u2013 93 percent of the entire economy \u2013 it is time to invoke the first law of holes: when you\u2019re in one \u2013 stop digging.\u00a0 And if Congress doesn\u2019t invoke that law now, I can all but guarantee you the American people will invoke it in November.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n