U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, issued the following statement today after the administration signaled a willingness to use extra funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to pay for a second stimulus plan:

Last year I voted against the financial bailout bill because it passed the costs of Wall Street’s bad decisions onto struggling taxpayers. While I believe that action taken by Congress was wrong, the TARP legislation rightly demanded that any money not used to purchase toxic assets for the purpose of financial stability be used to pay down the national debt.  To use TARP money in the manner that is being discussed would be a violation of the law and further erode the trust the American people have in their government.

Washington remains desperate to find new ways to spend taxpayer money, even disregarding taxpayer protections written into the law. More government spending piled on the backs of our children will not bring America back. We need tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms, and fiscal discipline in Washington. American families should not have to wait through another holiday for Democrats to enact the common-sense policies that will help put people back to work and restore fiscal sanity in Washington.