A Blue-Dog Democrat and self-professed "budget hawk" is explaining his decision to vote in favor of the 647-page economic stimulus bill that some conservatives have labeled the "Obama-Pelosi-Reid debt plan."
Congressman Travis Childers (D-Mississippi) says voting in favor of the $819 billion economic stimulus package made him a bit uneasy because of all the pork-barrel spending that was loaded into the bill. "Here's what just pushed me I guess, and I don't mind telling you, I really kind of teetered for the last couple of days on this. But this is what just finally made me vote for it. Number one, it's not a finished product," he explains. "It goes over to the Senate. I hope they can take the bill and perfect it. I hope they can make it better at least." The cost of the bill has already risen to $888 billion in the Senate, and Republicans there are mounting an effort to derail the package, which includes millions of dollars in spending for projects such as removing fish passage barriers, rehabilitating ATV trails, global warming research, and honeybee insurance. Childers says although the bill contained a large amount of wasteful spending, the issue of unemployment "pushed" him "over the edge" to support the bill. He notes 70,000 people lost their jobs last week in the U.S. "In north Mississippi, it seems like every time I pick up any county paper or daily paper, more and more people are losing their jobs," he notes. "This economy is spiraling downward just like a drain taking dishwater down, and doing nothing is just not an option. We have to do something." Childers promises that if the bill grows in size in the Senate and is not improved when it gets kicked back to the House, he will vote against the legislation.
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