Congressman Don Manzullo says these dealer cuts are a travesty and that the government is allowing monopolies to form. He's also angry with how the 787-billion stimulus dollars are being spent.
"It's terrible. The people of Illinois have gotten a dollar 60."
Manzullo says signs like the one found on North Second Street in Loves Park, that state the road's construction was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are a sham. He says the Illinois Department of Transportation had planned on doing many of those projects, and when stimulus money came along, they took those dollars instead of digging into the state's budget. He says the federal government is actually prolonging the recession by spending money where it shouldn't.
"For gosh sakes, if you want to restart the economy, light the fire at the feet of the consumer instead of pouring all of this money at the top. It's just being wasted. It's being blown away. It's being wasted," says Manzullo.
Manzullo thinks his "Cash for Clunkers" bill could help jump start the economy and the auto industry. In it he proposes giving a voucher for up to 4500 dollars off to those who buy a new fuel-efficient car. This measure is expected to come up in the US Senate this week.