Lindselli: Stimulus 'Wrong For The Country'

Stimulus package a 'step in the wrong direction,' senator says

MAVOCKE, CEA--The $315 billion economic stimulus package passed earlier this week in both houses of Congress is "wrong for the country," Senator Nancy Lindselli (C-EDS) said Sunday.

Appearing on the GBC's Weekend Glance political news program, Lindselli, a strong Conservative from East Deschire, told host Gene Caughley the stimulus package is a "step in the wrong direction."

"What this bill did is it took $315 billion in new spending and it essentially doled it out to states for them to spend on infrastructure projects. That's $315 billion in new spending, and that's being added to our debt," Lindselli said. "And what's worse is that there are tax increases that are hidden in this so-called stimulus package, and that goes against the economic principles of a strong, progressive economy."

The bill may have been supported by President Menuhaeo and proposed by the Nationalists, but it passed with bipartisan support in the Senate by a vote of 55-35, and more narrowly in the Assembly, by a margin of 145-131.

When asked why 13 of her Conservative Senate colleagues voted for the bill, Lindselli responded, "there are obviously 13 misguided Conservatives in the Senate."

All four of East Deschire's Conservative senators voted against the measure. Only Senator Val Hennemott, the sole Nationalist representing the state, voted in favor of the bill.

For Senator Lindselli, her vote has a lot to do with not just her personal beliefs, but the beliefs of her constituents, she told Mr. Caughley.

"Back in my home state of East Deschire, most people there are opposed to the government adding debt. They believe the government should be reducing its debt and shouldn't be handing out free money right and left," she said.

Mrs. Lindselli added she plans to write a letter to President Menuhaeo requesting he delay signing the stimulus bill until talking with concerned members of Congress.

"I am going to write a letter to him, and I doubt he'll read it and I doubt it will make a difference. But it's my duty to write this letter, and I really feel a lot of us who are concerned about this stimulus plan and the overall economic principles being lined out by this administration are not being heard adequately and we need to be heard."

There was no comment from Collester on Mrs. Lindselli's upcoming letter.