Leadership Quote by John Boehner

Boehner’s line is less an economic argument than a political move disguised as common sense: stop spending because it “has not been spent,” therefore it “isn’t working.” The logic is intentionally blunt, built for a sound bite and a cable-news crawl, not a seminar on fiscal multipliers. By treating unspent funds as evidence of failure, he flips a bureaucratic lag into a verdict. The real target isn’t a ledger; it’s public patience.

The intent is clear: reframe the 2009 stimulus from emergency response to ongoing embarrassment. “Why don’t we” sounds cooperative, even neighborly, but it’s a rhetorical trap that casts opponents as irrational for continuing. The repetition of “Why don’t we” performs a kind of exasperated clarity, a Midwestern dad voice that implies the answer is obvious and anyone who disagrees is either naive or dishonest. “It’s not working” is the closer: definitive, un-nuanced, emotionally satisfying.

Subtext: the stimulus isn’t just ineffective, it’s illegitimate. In the post-crisis backlash, “stimulus spending” coded as waste, Washington arrogance, and Democrats buying loyalty with taxpayers’ money. By emphasizing the remaining “$400 billion or $500 billion,” Boehner anchors the debate in a huge, almost abstract number, inviting sticker shock rather than policy evaluation.

Context matters: Republicans were consolidating around austerity politics, Tea Party energy, and the message that government action prolongs pain. Boehner’s quote isn’t trying to win an economic modeling contest; it’s trying to win the permission structure for saying no.