As George Santayana famously said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are hoping your memory is very short. The stimulus package they are currently proposing is eerily similar to the one they passed in 2009, with promises of economic growth. That package failed miserably.

In 2009, Pelosi pushed through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, a $787 billion stimulus that ballooned to $831 billion. The Obama administration predicted that the stimulus would generate 4% economic growth per year from 2011 to 2013. That didn’t happen. The economy continued to limp along, averaging about 2% growth from 2009 to 2012. In fact, the economy slowed to 1.5% in 2012, with the fourth quarter of the year showing only 0.1% growth.