News Release

Washington, DC – Idaho Senator Mike Crapo was among a group of Republican Senators meeting with President Barack Obama today on Capitol Hill to discuss economic stimulus legislation. While Crapo characterized the meeting as friendly, he said he remains opposed to the current stimulus package proposed by the President. Crapo is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which broke from its executive session considering parts of the stimulus plan, to meet with the President.

“President Obama and all of us at the meeting are sincere in our desire to get the economy moving, rebuild our infrastructure and create jobs,” Crapo said. “We simply disagree on the way to get there. We can not rely on massive new government spending to return us to prosperity. Getting our economy moving again will be rational mix of tax cuts, regulatory reforms and targeted spending, to name a few. I voted against last year’s financial rescue package because taxpayers were not protected in the government’s plans to purchase toxic mortgage assets. I have similar concerns about protecting the American taxpayer in the stimulus package.

“The President’s $825 billion proposal dwarfs every other spending program in U.S. history except for spending on NASA’s space program to date. It is one-third higher than spending in Iraq, $300 billion more than the New Deal and more than $100 billion more than the cost of the entire Vietnam War.

“This kind of deficit spending will put huge debts upon our children, their children and their grandchildren. With $1.8 trillion of federal debt already threatening our children’s future and our economic security, we must be careful not to allow spending plans to become grab-bags for programs with limited job-growth potential or stimulative value.”