Our American economy is strong and will remain strong primarily because we are a hard working nation. Some recent signs of economic weakness, however, have led government leaders in Washington D.C. to cobble together a stimulus package to keep the economy growing. At least that’s the hope.

What’s more likely is that our economy will benefit from short-term growth, not long-term. It will be almost like having sugar shock from eating too many sweets at once.

I voted in favor of the economic stimulus package that passed the House of Representatives on January 29th.  The Senate will also act soon and a final package will likely be on President Bush’s desk shortly after that.

Before anyone breaths a sigh of relief, let’s take a clear-eyed picture of what we can expect from this economic stimulus package. But first, before any stimulus package is signed into law, we must protect taxpayer’s hard earned money from being given away to illegal aliens. There are changes we can make to the language of this economic stimulus package to stop such fraud, but we should also pass my New IDEA Act. I sent this bill to the floor of the Congress months ago to coordinate the enforcement recourses of the Internal Revenue Service and other federal law enforcement agencies to choke off the loopholes used by illegals to fraud American taxpayers for their personal gain.

All the bells-and-whistles in the world won’t save this economic stimulus package if money intended for Americans is given to criminal aliens. If that happens, it will be a failure.

The next step comes down to the details of the 2008 economic stimulus. The package includes important tax cuts for small businesses and other companies, but those cuts don’t go far enough. The tax rebate checks for millions of Americans, at the center of this stimulus, are designed to encourage a short-term economic surge- NOT long-term, sustainable growth. The package is worthy, but I believe we are missing a golden opportunity to make the 2003 tax cuts permanent- stimulus for long-term economic growth.

If you’re having a moment of déjà vu, it’s not by accident. We have been here before. In 2001 the President and Congress cut checks for the American people with the hopes that Americans would go out and spend them- which we did.

When we look back at the overall affect of the 2001 tax rebates on our American economy, we see that the rebates did little to spark the kind of sustained economic growth that many had predicted. Here’s a short timeline to put the 2001 tax rebates into perspective:  

• July 2000 to June 2001- American economy is at near negative growth
• June 2001- tax rebates enacted
• July to September 2001- stock markets spike upwards after the stimulus, come down, then fluctuate wildly
• September 11, 2001- murderous attacks by Islamist jihadists on New York and Washington D.C. drag economic activity sharply downward
• End of 2001- American economic growth nears 1 percent

Recognizing the need for a stimulus that would actually spur our economy towards long-term growth, President Bush and Congress enacted long-term tax cuts (not rebates) in May of 2003. This economic stimulus package included: eliminating the death tax, cutting taxes on married couples, expanding the child tax credit, allowing more people to deduct charitable giving, cutting taxes on research and development, cutting taxes on capital gains and dividend income, and simplifying taxable income brackets.

The very next quarter of the fiscal year, the third of 2003, the US economy skyrocketed up 7.5%. Thanks to those tax cuts, the Dow Jones has grown 40% since May of 2003. And up through 2007, our economy has averaged 3% annual growth. I voted for that economic stimulus and believe it is one of the most important accomplishments of Congress in recent memory.

Being a small business-owner myself, I know firsthand the toll taxes take on payroll, hiring decisions and equipment purchases. Long-term tax cuts work- for everyone in America. Unfortunately, the 2003 tax cuts were temporary and will expire in 2010. If we let them expire, Americans will experience the largest tax increase in our nation’s history.

Now back to the present, the beginning of 2008, we have a stimulus package that is aimed at helping working families in the short-term. Unfortunately, this 2008 "shot in the arm" will not stimulate our economy in the long-term.

We must make the 2003 tax cuts permanent. Whether we enact long-term tax cuts now or later, we will surely have to do it.

Once the economy comes down off the sugar high brought on by this rebate-based stimulus, we will be forced to revisit the issue of economic underperformance. When we do, we can make the 2003 tax cuts permanent, and we will certainly see consistent, sustained, long-term investment and growth, new jobs, and an improved business climate in this country that will bolster our competitiveness in the world.