Instead Money Was Given To Tax Cheats And A Failed Green Energy Company
Yesterday, President Barack Obama went to the Brent Spence Bridge to campaign for his second stimulus. As the President noted in his speech, he picked this particular bridge to send a partisan message to Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell.
What the President failed to remember was that liberal United States Senator Sherrod Brown – who votes with him over 96 percent of the time – promised that the original $825 billion stimulus would be spent to repair the Brent Spence Bridge.
MUST WATCH FLASHBACK
“The first $825 billion stimulus – which Sherrod Brown rubberstamped into law – was a failure, because instead of working to repair the Brent Spence Bridge, billions of dollars were given out to tax cheats and millions were given to a green energy company that is now bankrupt,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Jahan Wilcox. “The complete debacle of the original stimulus only serves as another reminder that Brown’s reckless spending habits have failed to get the 536,000 unemployed Ohioans working again.”
BACKGROUND
Brown Promised The First Stimulus Would Repair The Brent Spence Bridge
Sherrod Brown Said The First Stimulus Would Help Fund The “Shovel Ready” Brent Spence Bridge In January of 2009. BROWN: “But we do need to do direct spending on job creation. That means shovel-ready projects for water and sewer systems, whether it’s the Brent Spence bridge in Cincinnati, that will put a lot of people to work and help with economic development, or whether it’s a water and sewer system in Defiance, Ohio, or in Nashville.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 1/28/09)
Instead Billions Of Dollars Were Given To Tax Cheats
USA TODAY: More than 3,700 federal contractors received $24 billion in stimulus money despite failing to pay federal income taxes, according to a report to be released today by the Government Accountability Office. (Gregory Korte, GAO report: Tax cheats received billions in stimulus funds, USA Today, 05/23/11)
And Millions Of Dollars Were Given To Solyndra
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Solyndra, which received $528 million in federal loans under the stimulus law, declared bankruptcy late last month and laid off 1,100 workers. The Silicon Valley company was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently touted Solyndra as a model for its clean energy program. President Obama visited the company’s Fremont, Calif., headquarters last year. (Solyndra’s woes worried White House, emails show, Associated Press, 09/16/11)
