With public opinion turning sour over a big-government economic recovery package, some taxpayer advocates and officials are posing the question that seemed verboten in Washington just a week ago: Who needs a stimulus?
"We don't," said Michael Steele, newly elected Republican National Committee chairman, in an interview with FOXNews.com Tuesday.
Though Republican senators are trying to negotiate an alternative bill with Democrats as debate gets underway in their chamber, the unanimous opposition of the House GOP last week to a $819 billion bill signaled that some lawmakers are prepared to reject a stimulus outright, rather than engage in what appears to be an uphill fight for significantly reduced spending.
Most Americans are now looking for major revisions in the way the government is approaching the recession.
A Gallup poll out Tuesday showed that a majority of Americans want Congress to either reject or make "major changes" to the economic stimulus package on Capitol Hill.
The poll, conducted from Friday through Sunday, found that 75 percent of Americans want Congress to pass some version of the plan. But the survey reflected deepening doubts about the effectiveness of the programs and spending items currently being considered by federal lawmakers. Only 38 percent of those polled favored the existing stimulus proposal, down from a slight majority holding that view in the Jan. 28 Gallup survey.
Thirty-seven percent want major changes and 17 percent reject the plan outright.
"This idea that the public is not excited about this package ... is really having an effect on Capitol Hill," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told FOX News, adding that most of the Senate suffers from a "herd mentality" and is swayed by public opinion.
"There's nothing inevitable about this," said Phil Kerpen, director of policy at Americans for Prosperity. "The American economy is enormously resilient and it's always recovered in the past."
Americans for Prosperity has launched a petition on the Web site called NoStimulus.com to oppose what it calls the "big-government pork-barrel spending bill."
The conservative Cato Institute also recently took out a group of ads with a statement, signed by 200 economists, saying they "do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance."
The Senate is currently debating a nearly $890 billion version of the bill, and top Democrats wanted to add $25 billion in highway and mass transit funds during debate Tuesday. Republicans want more provisions to make housing more affordable.
President Obama said Tuesday that the nation can't afford the "same partisan gridlock" on the measure, and assured that the "vast majority" of investment would be made in the next 18 months.
With such a clamoring for the bill, Kerpen said, realistically, he expects a stimulus of some form to pass. But he said the bill in its current form was dealt a "severe and perhaps mortal blow in the House" that could lead to a much different version on the Senate side.
Steele said his party members could possibly sell the program to their constituents if it contains more tax relief. Steele said he wants the plan to eliminate the capital gains tax, for instance. But he told FOXNews.com that Republicans should continue to lock arms against the bill if it retains the "wacky spending" items in the bill now.
Steele said the economy would likely recover within a couple years anyway, and government actions like the first stimulus package last year and the $700 billion financial bailout have produced, "In a word, nothing."
"I think if the government were to get out of the way and let the small business community and corporations of America weed themselves through this process, it's survival of the fittest," Steele said.
"We don't," said Michael Steele, newly elected Republican National Committee chairman, in an interview with FOXNews.com Tuesday.
Though Republican senators are trying to negotiate an alternative bill with Democrats as debate gets underway in their chamber, the unanimous opposition of the House GOP last week to a $819 billion bill signaled that some lawmakers are prepared to reject a stimulus outright, rather than engage in what appears to be an uphill fight for significantly reduced spending.
Most Americans are now looking for major revisions in the way the government is approaching the recession.
A Gallup poll out Tuesday showed that a majority of Americans want Congress to either reject or make "major changes" to the economic stimulus package on Capitol Hill.
The poll, conducted from Friday through Sunday, found that 75 percent of Americans want Congress to pass some version of the plan. But the survey reflected deepening doubts about the effectiveness of the programs and spending items currently being considered by federal lawmakers. Only 38 percent of those polled favored the existing stimulus proposal, down from a slight majority holding that view in the Jan. 28 Gallup survey.
Thirty-seven percent want major changes and 17 percent reject the plan outright.
"This idea that the public is not excited about this package ... is really having an effect on Capitol Hill," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told FOX News, adding that most of the Senate suffers from a "herd mentality" and is swayed by public opinion.
"There's nothing inevitable about this," said Phil Kerpen, director of policy at Americans for Prosperity. "The American economy is enormously resilient and it's always recovered in the past."
Americans for Prosperity has launched a petition on the Web site called NoStimulus.com to oppose what it calls the "big-government pork-barrel spending bill."
The conservative Cato Institute also recently took out a group of ads with a statement, signed by 200 economists, saying they "do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance."
The Senate is currently debating a nearly $890 billion version of the bill, and top Democrats wanted to add $25 billion in highway and mass transit funds during debate Tuesday. Republicans want more provisions to make housing more affordable.
President Obama said Tuesday that the nation can't afford the "same partisan gridlock" on the measure, and assured that the "vast majority" of investment would be made in the next 18 months.
With such a clamoring for the bill, Kerpen said, realistically, he expects a stimulus of some form to pass. But he said the bill in its current form was dealt a "severe and perhaps mortal blow in the House" that could lead to a much different version on the Senate side.
Steele said his party members could possibly sell the program to their constituents if it contains more tax relief. Steele said he wants the plan to eliminate the capital gains tax, for instance. But he told FOXNews.com that Republicans should continue to lock arms against the bill if it retains the "wacky spending" items in the bill now.
Steele said the economy would likely recover within a couple years anyway, and government actions like the first stimulus package last year and the $700 billion financial bailout have produced, "In a word, nothing."
"I think if the government were to get out of the way and let the small business community and corporations of America weed themselves through this process, it's survival of the fittest," Steele said.