Posted on 01/27/2009 9:57:06 PM PST by Joe27
The House is expected to approve today an $825 billion economic stimulus package that supporters say could help create nearly 4 million jobs at a time when the U.S. economy is in tatters.
The plan could pump billions of dollars into Wisconsin's economy through funding for highway and water projects, food stamps and unemployment benefits, and education and law enforcement grants, among other things.
Rep. Dave Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, helped craft the stimulus package, which he calls an honest effort to prevent the economy from falling further into the abyss. The Wausau Democrat is urging lawmakers to quickly approve the bill, noting that the economy continues to shed jobs every day.
"The time for talk is over," Obey said.
Republicans, however, remain largely opposed to the stimulus plan even after a couple of high-profile meetings Tuesday with President Barack Obama on Capitol Hill. They say the plan won't do enough to stimulate the economy and will only drive the country further into deficit with wasteful government spending.
"There's no way I can support this bill as it's being presented in the House of Representatives," said Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls said hours after he and other House Republicans met with Obama on the stimulus plan. Obama met separately with Senate Republicans.
Sensenbrenner and other Republicans gave the president credit for reaching out to them, especially since many recognize that Obama needs little GOP support get the legislation through the Democratic-controlled Congress.
"He came in a show of good will, which will help him in the future in his relations on the Hill with the minority party," said Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Janesville. "But this was not a negotiation session. I don't think he left here thinking this package was going to change much."
The debate over the stimulus plan is taking place as a number of major companies - United Airlines, Home Depot and Caterpillar, among others - are announcing layoffs. State and local governments in Wisconsin and across the country also are hurting, and local officials see the stimulus plan as a lifeline to help them stave off major budget shortfalls that could force them to cut jobs and services.
"The American people expect action," Obama said between meetings with House and Senate Republicans. "I don't expect 100% agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I do hope that we can all put politics aside and do the American people's business right now."
Later, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs predicted that Obama would have some Republican support for the package and joked that the meetings were surprisingly cordial.
"Maybe it's news that nobody threw anything at anyone and . . . nobody yelled, 'Food fight,' " he said.
Senate version The Senate is putting together its own version of the bill this week. Unlike the House version, the Senate bill is likely to include a provision that would shield wealthy and middle-class taxpayers from paying the alternative minimum tax next year. The provision could increase the size of the Senate package to $900 billion. Congressional leaders plan to have the bill on Obama's desk for his signature by next month.
The House bill includes about $550 billion in government spending and $275 billion in tax cuts. On the spending side, the bill would invest billions in renewable energy, science and technology, infrastructure projects, education and health care.
Under the tax plan, workers would receive up to $500 in tax cuts; students would get a $2,500 college tuition tax credit, and poor families could get additional tax credits. Businesses also would receive a variety of tax cuts.
In Wisconsin, the money in the House bill could translate into billions in federal spending and tax cuts, including $563 million for highways and bridge construction and renovation, $44 million in local law enforcement grants, $10 million for the Head Start program and $34 million for low-income energy assistance.
Wisconsin's Democratic House members largely support the plan, saying it would benefit both the country and the state.
"Certainly, Wisconsin and all other states will be greatly aided by this measure," said Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Madison.
"What we're trying to do is pass a recovery package that will create jobs, act quickly and then end," said Rep. Ron Kind, a La Crosse Democrat. "It has to be targeted, and it has to be temporary."
But Rep. Tom Petri, a Fond du Lac Republican, said he is not convinced that the package offers the right approach.
Republican questions As they continue to examine the bill, Republicans say they have found no shortage of questionable spending items, including $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts and $200 million for the National Mall.
"You can't spend this amount of money without spending money on some willy-nilly things," said Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican.
Even as Republicans are criticizing the House stimulus package as too costly, some economists say the plan might be too small to jolt the economy back to life. Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale University, questioned the plan in an opinion piece published Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal, saying it might not be large enough to make a big difference on the economy.
Given those concerns, it is especially important that taxpayers get the "most bang for the buck" in the stimulus, said Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat.
If Congress does nothing, the shortfall in the country's output relative to its potential would be the largest since the Great Depression, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said Tuesday before the House Budget Committee.
"The expected severity and persistence of economic weakness have led the great majority of economists to think that both large-scale fiscal stimulus and significant new financial and monetary policies are needed to generate a strong recovery in the next few years," he said. "But designing effective stimulus on the scale that the Congress is considering is difficult."
Democrats are poised to do for America what they did for California.
Call, email and fax tomorrow to stall this travesty.
Then send tea bags to Washingon! The new Taxpayer Tea Party!
We are so fuu.....screwed!
It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out. Will this go down in history as the day the Pubbies stood up to Socialism? I hope so. I don't think the party can hold together with anything less.
Yep. That's one of the reasons the Democrats want as many GOP votes for this crap as possible: to give the "blue dogs" some top cover when they have to defend their "in favor" vote to their "red district" voters.
E-VERIFY....Stimulus Jobs to Americans or Jobs to Illegal Aliens
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2173288/posts
....”Whatever the Rules Committee does, there is likely to be some kind of vote on whether to allow governments and businesses getting the trillion dollars of stimulus money to hire illegal aliens.
There may be a point of order on the floor to strip the requirement to use E-Verify to keep illegals out of the jobs. There may be an amendment to do that. Or if the Rules already stripped E-Verify, there may be an amendment to put E-Verify back in.
Your job is to let your own Representative know that his/her constituents expect this bill to explicitly require E-Verify to make sure all new jobs go to Americans and legal immigrants already here.”....
Wait a minute!
Another f_ckin’ stimulus?
“The House is expected to approve today an $825 billion economic stimulus package”
.
Isn’t it supposed to contain some stimulus first?
Assuming because the Democrat Congress ignored the public out-cry against the $700 billion Bail-out, this too will pass
92.8% Employment could be a great place to start given proper tax cuts, but now Mr. Øbama’s faulty economic plan is going to be implemented and that number dropping will leave him a 1 term novelty, more troubled than Carter
the Democrats want as many GOP votes for this crap as possible: to give the “blue dogs” some top cover when they have to defend their “in favor” vote to their “red district” voters.
Rep. Tim Walz, D, MN fits that well
Is the ACORN money going direct or can we compete for it?
Bush needed to twist the arms of repubs the second time because even though the dems held Congress re-election time was near and those dems in conservative districts needed cover. In short the dems are playing the repubs like a beautifully hand crafted Stradivarius.
re: I don’t think the party can hold together with anything less.
I’m not certain there’s anything that can be done to save “the party.” This vote will be a good indication of how close we are to seeing the party tossed into the dust bin of history.
The party has reached the point where it serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. We are probably at point where that can be turned around, but I fear we are standing at the point of no return. The party can’t even nominate a serious candidate for President.
The only way any message will be sent is for every Republican to vote against this travesty with the explanation that America is headed in the wrong direction and a vote for the stimulus is a vote to continue in that wrong direction.
The worst part of all this to me is that we are going to have to sit by for several years and watch the end slowly consume us. I fear we know where it’s going and it’s going there in slow motion.
Maybe the GOP and Blue Dogs can’t stop it, but they could stand against it (as if they grew a pair).
LOL. I have no idea!! This whole meeting was to woo and warn Rep. they had a lot to lose. Obama thinks he can talk his opposition into submission to his will. For goodness sake, Obama thinks he can just talk to Ahmajinidad and convince him to drop that goofy Nuke program. ” The time for talk is over. Take their money from their pockets and give it to the Commisar. He’ll know how it should be spent, Comrade.”- David Obey
But obviously, it's more than that per taxpayer since there's not that many taxpayers. And also it will only come out of the pockets of the next generation to pay the bonds.
http://sessions.senate.gov/forms/stimulus2009.pdf
Truth is, we have zero power in the Senate as well.
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