Congress Begins Work on Stimulus Package (2/1/2008)

Congress began work on an economic stimulus package this week. House leaders negotiated an agreement with the White House on a $145 billion package that would focus on tax rebates for individual income earners as well as investment incentives for businesses. Although the House passed its bill on Tuesday, the Senate continues debate on various additions to the House package, much to the chagrin of House leaders and President Bush.

Last week, the President and House leaders showed a rare sign of cooperation by agreeing to the $145 billion stimulus plan. The President and Congress do not usually see eye-to-eye when it comes to any sort of spending legislation, but both sides believe a stimulus package is necessary to ward off a recession. After a series of meetings, President Bush, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) negotiated a deal which they labeled as, “timely, targeted, and temporary.” No one bothered to run this agreement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee passed its own stimulus package out of committee, with various additions to the House version. The Committee package would extend unemployment benefits, provide more help for businesses losing money, add $5.6 billion in tax breaks for renewable energy, provide payments to coal companies and add payments for low-income workers. The plan is under heavy criticism from House Democrats and Republicans in both chambers. The White House also warned Congress not to attach too many additional provisions to the negotiated plan.

Despite the opposition, Sen. Reid plans to hold a vote on the committee’s language, though he expects the vote to fail. Afterwards, Reid is planning a series of votes to make two specific amendments to the House package, expanding low-income heating assistance and adding rebate checks for low-income seniors and disabled veterans who would not qualify under the House bill.

Senate Democrats remain hopeful that Republicans will not want to go on record voting against low-income voters, seniors, and disabled veterans during an election year. Unfortunately for education advocates, funding for school construction and repair projects is not on the table under any of the current proposals.

Sen. Reid plans to complete work on the package next week, so Congress can have a final version to the President by February 15. House leaders expect the President will sign the bill, assuming Senate amendments are kept to a reasonable level. Once the President signs the package, the bipartisan efforts displayed over the last week will likely fade away, especially after the President releases his fiscal year 2009 budget proposal on Monday.

Resources:
Richard Rubin, “Senate Narrows Stimulus Bill Changes,” CQ Today, January 31, 2008.
Author: SAS