It's only a seven minute, 29 second summation, but if time is short, cue the player to the 3:29 mark for the conclusion, of which the text is below:
Ready to WorkDoes anyone think Obama is really serious about controlling Federal spending?
Floor Speech by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell(R-KY)
January 26, 2001
“Two years ago, the President came to Congress and told the country we needed to invest in the future through a trillion dollar Stimulus that was supposed to be a model of transparency and efficiency. Within a year, this bill which was sold to us as the answer to our nation’s economic woes had become a national punch-line, a tragic waste of money. And two years after that investment in our future was signed into law, what do we have: Nearly three and a half trillion more dollars in debt and nearly three million more Americans out of work.
“These out-of work Americans don’t want to sit around and wait for the Democrat vision of the future to appear, compliments of the experts in Washington. They’re not particularly moved by someone’s vision of what America could look like 40 years from now if only they hand over more of their paychecks or more their freedoms now. They want a job. They want Washington to stop trying to help them and to let them help themselves.
“So the President talks a good game, but call us skeptical. Because when all the applause is over and the speeches are through, the debt is higher, more and more wasteful spending and job-stifling regulations come to light, and millions of Americans are still asking the same simple, persistent question: where, Mr. President, are the jobs?
“The President has made some good suggestions on areas where we could work together. And we stand ready to do so, just as we have in the past. But we’ve now seen enough to know that what the President says and what he does are often two very different things. He’s called for investments in energy before, and we got the Stimulus. He called for working with us on trade. We’re still waiting. He’s said before we need to get serious about the debt, even as it’s reached dizzying new heights as a result of his policies.
“He speaks like one who recognizes that spending is out of control, and yet his response is to propose that we lock in spending levels we all know are completely unsustainable. This isn’t progress. This is an admission of defeat. Americans don’t want a spending freeze at unsustainable levels. They want cuts, dramatic cuts. And I hope the President will work with us on achieving them soon.
“To put it simply, the President still sounds like he’s trying to have it both ways. His tone may be changing. But based on past performance, we’ll remain skeptical until we see results. Republicans have pledged to the voters that we will do everything we can to cut wasteful government spending, work to lower the debt, get government out of the way of economic growth, and work to repeal the health care bill, even as we replace it with the kind of common sense reforms people actually want. The President has shown he’s willing to talk about some of these things. Let’s hope he surprises us by showing a new willingness to do more than that, to actually work with us on achieving real results.”
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