At a Feb. 17 news conference, GOP. Sens. Jon Kyl (left) and John McCain faulted Democrats for the mortgage crisis that led to the economic meltdown. Kyl and McCain spoke to reporters at Arizona State University West in Glendale.

As President Obama prepared to arrive in the Valley to unveil the second phase of his stimulus plan, Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl bemoaned the massive spending and lack of bipartisanship that went into the first phase.

At a Feb. 17 press conference at Arizona State University's West Campus, McCain and Kyl lambasted the president and the majority Democrats in Congress for the $787 billion stimulus plan passed last week. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan amounts to "generational theft," McCain said, and will do little or nothing to stimulate the economy.

"The bipartisan stimulus package was neither bipartisan nor stimulating," McCain said. "This stimulus package … was business as usual in Washington."

The package was approved by the Congress on Feb. 13 with the votes of three Republican senators – Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain and Kyl derided the notion that the president had proceeded in a bipartisan manner.

Senate Republicans had an alternate proposal, McCain and Kyl said, which called for $420 billion in spending and included a trigger that would end federal stimulus spending after two consecutive quarters of economic growth. And they chided House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her post-election comment that the Democrats won and they'll write the bill.

"We stand ready to sit down with the president and our counterparts on the other side of the aisle at any time," McCain said.

The duo also questioned why the stimulus package did not first and foremost address the housing industry crisis that touched off the recession. Obama is expected to unveil his housing plan on Feb. 18 at Mesa's Dobson High School, in the heart of one of the metro areas hardest hit by the subprime mortgage crisis and the subsequent downturn in housing prices.

Kyl warned that any housing plan that focuses too heavily on those whose homes have been foreclosed on will only provide an incentive for more people to go into foreclosure. Instead, the senators said, Obama should reinstate a $15,000 tax credit for home buyers.

"I think that would be an important incentive," McCain said of the tax credit.

The senators also rebutted those who blame Republicans for the housing crisis and recession, saying the GOP fought against unsafe lending practices by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Kyl said he and other congressional Republicans proposed legislation two years ago to curb the practices that led to the housing crisis, but the bill was doomed by Democratic opposition.

"Republicans did not get us into this housing crisis," Kyl said. "We tried when we were in control of Congress to get this passed."