Looking for source for something a republican said in 2009

[DetlefK]

It was in the earliest days of the Obama-administration, late 2008 or early 2009. He was meeting with rebublicans to find a bipartisan solution to the economic crisis. They demanded that he change nuthin' and rely solely on tax-cutting to solve this. He refused. The talks broke off and they accused him of partisan politics and arrogance.

What I am looking for, is this:
I remember clearly that one of the republican suggestions to solve the exploding debt was to freeze all government-spending for some period of time, excluding the military of course. Who said that and when?

Back then, it seemed like an idiotic idea. But now I think, that it was simply a poison-pill: Kill the administration of that unexperienced guy by making the recession worse.

[Emit]

1. McCain?

See: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/third-presidential-debate.html

~snip~

SCHIEFFER: All right. Let's go to another topic. It's related. So if you have other things you want to say, you can get back to that.

This question goes to you first, Senator Obama.

We found out yesterday that this year's deficit will reach an astounding record high $455 billion. Some experts say it could go to $1 trillion next year.

Both of you have said you want to reduce the deficit, but the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget ran the numbers on both of your proposals and they say the cost of your proposals, even with the savings you claim can be made, each will add more than $200 billion to the deficit.

Aren't you both ignoring reality? Won't some of the programs you are proposing have to be trimmed, postponed, even eliminated?

Give us some specifics on what you're going to cut back.


~snip~
MCCAIN: Energy -- well, first -- second of all, energy independence. We have to have nuclear power. We have to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much. It's wind, tide, solar, natural gas, nuclear, off-shore drilling, which Senator Obama has opposed.

And the point is that we become energy independent and we will create millions of jobs -- millions of jobs in America.

OK, what -- what would I cut? I would have, first of all, across-the-board spending freeze, OK? Some people say that's a hatchet. That's a hatchet, and then I would get out a scalpel, OK?

[Emit]

2. Pence? Chaffetz?

http://www.truth-out.org/archive/item/82761-gop-turns-to-talk-of-spending-freeze

GOP Turns to Talk of "Spending Freeze"

~snip~

"We're advocating that Congress freeze all federal spending immediately," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference, during a Tuesday luncheon at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "People out there are hurting, and they understand what you do when times are tough. You make hard choices. Today House Republicans are urging the Democrats to do the same. We think it's time that the Democrats put our money where their mouth is."

The strategy - in its very early stages - presents problems for Republicans who have not received any measurable uptick in support from their opposition to the economic stimulus package. Most of the party's leadership is on record having supported Bush-era spending packages that grew the deficit. With the exception of a shrinking number of moderate Republicans from the northeast, all of the party's members of Congress support further tax cuts, which would lead to revenue shortfalls. And while Republicans argue that voters are on their side and opposed to further spending, there are few polls that back this up.

~snip~

"We've already done TARP, we've already done the stimulus, and we've already spent $3 trillion," said Chaffetz. "Can't we freeze it at that point? We already have a $3.1 trillion budget, and the majority asked for, and got, an additional $2 trillion. It's just time to say, 'time for a freeze.'"

This is a controversial stance: an economic downturn is not generally seen by economists as the right time to cut back on government spending. "They're about as wrong as it's possible to be," said Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's first secretary of labor, when asked about the Republicans' statements on Monday. Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist who wrote a book critical of George W. Bush's spending, could not name many peers who believe that smaller deficits and less spending are the way to combat economic downturns. "It's a total double-standard," said Bartlett. "Republicans deficits stimulate, Democratic deficits don't."

~snip~

As Republicans push for spending cuts or spending freezes, they continue to propose tax cuts. That unsettles even some economists who agree with the thrust of Republicans' arguments. "I would probably not support supply-side tax cuts right now," said Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who co-wrote a much-cited study arguing that the New Deal lengthened the great depression. "There's no tax reform being discussed right now that would expand the tax base and increase revenues."

~snip~

[DetlefK]

3. Thanks.