Bishop Opposes Final $787 Billion Spending Bill

Congressman Rob Bishop, today, voted against the final version of the so-called stimulus bill, which was loaded with $787 billion worth of spending on government programs and projects.  At the same time, the northern Utah lawmaker criticized the closed and rushed process that produced the final version of the legislation. Congressman Bishop had previously backed an alternative focused on immediate tax relief for families and assistance for small businesses to create jobs.

Following the vote, Congressman Bishop issued the following statement:

"This bill is not focused on job creation, and is not what President Obama said he wanted.  Democrat leaders in Congress made a bad bill worse by cutting back on tax relief to pay for more big government spending.  The problem isn't just the amount of money spent, but that the money spent simply won't solve the problems.  The process was also poor. Maybe when Speaker Pelosi promised 48 hours to review the bill, she actually meant 4 to 8 hours, since Democrats didn't release the bill until midnight—just hours before debate started this morning. There was a better option before us: fast-acting tax relief for working families and small businesses that would have created twice the jobs at half the cost, but Speaker Pelosi refused to give that bill a chance to be heard."

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