Congressman says lack of spending 'smothering' the economy

The Congressman has been "smothering" the economy through a lack of spending, one lawmaker said Tuesday.

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) defended health reform legislation and other federal spending, arguing that they were essential to enabling economic growth.

"If you hold your fist too tightly, and nothing goes out, nothing comes in. And ultimately, you smother whatever is in there to death," Davis said during an interview on Fox News. "And I think we've been smothering our economy."

"We've got to be loose enough and open enough to keep the movement going so that people don't have get cut in," he added.

Davis said that while heeding deficits were important, federal spending represents opportunity for growth and rejuvenation in the flagging U.S. economy.

The economy had suffered consecutive quarters of retraction before growing at a rate of 3.5 percent during the third quarter of 2009. Most economists have credited the growth to a surge in government spending, billions of which came from President Barack Obama's signature stimulus package.

"As you invest, you expand opportunity," he said. "All the economists I've talked to suggest that if you can keep spending, and you can keep circulating, and you can keep growing an economy, then you come out of a recession -- you keep away from a depression."

Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed an interest in a second stimulus package to bolster job growth, though Davis did not specifically address that in his interview.

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