Here's the latest proposal by Sen. Thune in a last ditch effort to interject some sanity into the government debt bill currently being debated in Washington, D.C.:
February 6th, 2009- Washington, D.C. - Senator John Thune today introduced an across-the-board middle class tax rebate amendment (S. AMDT #538) to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Senator Thune's amendment would strike the entire $936 billion Senate stimulus bill and replace it with a $936 billion across-the-board-middle-class tax rebate for 182 million Americans. The amendment would result in a tax rebate of $5,143 for single filers and $10,286 for married couples who file jointly. Eligibility is capped for all tax filers at 2007 adjusted gross income of $250,000.
Read the whole press release here. I shall post the video of Thune's floor speech below. Truth be told, this idea is not much better than the Democrat's spending bill, although it has a few virtues. For one, if we are going to spend an additional trillion dollars, we might as well let the people do it themselves. While it is something of a Republican trope, it is probably true in this instance that the people will spend the money more wisely than the government. There is the additional benefit that Thune's proposal does not create more bureaucracy to suck up public money. Thune's plan also would not set a new baseline for spending. One of my fears regarding the Democrat plan is that next year they will demand the exact same level of spending and denounce as cruel and heartless anyone who wants to return the previous baseline. In other words, Democrats don't see this as a one time budget supplemental, but as a permanent increase in government spending.
Thune's proposal also has the value of honesty, which on the merits is why we shouldn't support it. Thune's idea is far more upfront that we are taking money from future generations to give to ourselves. It's that simple. I can't support any additional debt heaped on to future generations, but at least Thune's plan is transparent. And although Thune, like everyone else, seems to labor under the false belief that it is consumer spending that drives the economy (rather than productivity), at least his bill would provide immediate action without adding to bureaucracy, as opposed to the Democrat bill, which will have no immediate effect as most of the spending will not take place for at least two years.
This post is not intended as a knock against Sen. Thune. This proposal is lightyears better than the worse than useless Democrat alternative. Here's Thune defending his plan:
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