GOP Wants ‘Hoovervilles,’ Dem Lawmaker Alleges

Republicans’ economic plans would be to leave Americans in “Hoovervilles,” one Democratic lawmaker argued Wednesday.

“Hooverville is the model community of the Republican plan to solve America’s economic crisis,” Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) argued in a speech on the House floor, referencing the shanty towns built by groups of homeless men across the country during the Great Depression. The communities were named after President Herbert Hoover, a Republican under whose watch the Great Depression commenced.

“Republican President Herbert Hoover presided over the Great Depression and stood by while millions of Americans stood in soup lines and unemployment lines,” McDermott said during his speech. “It produced Hoovervilles across the land, a kind of how-to guide on what not to do during an economic crisis.”

McDermott accused Republicans of supporting a “Hooverville” vision of America, with collapsed mortgages, soup and unemployment lines, and “no light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Republicans offer America an economic blueprint called ‘Hooverville,'” McDermott added. “It didn’t work the last time, and it won’t work this time.”