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Senate Begins Debate On President's Economic Stimulus; Republicans To Seek Changes
February 2, 2009 8:09 a.m. EST
Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Senate will begin debate on Monday on a $900 billion version of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan. Republicans are expected to demand changes to the measure, which they have repeatedly called "wasteful."
Lawmakers convene at 2:00 pm ET to begin floor debate on the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The House voted to approve an $819 billion package last Wednesday, but not a single Republican vote was cast in support of the bill. GOP leaders have said Democratic claims that the measure is "bipartisan" only applied to the 11 Democrats who ignored party leadership and voted against the measure.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Sunday expressed doubts that the bill will be pass as it is written.
"Changes could be made," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We're going to recommend, for example, you go right at the housing problem. We have a four-percent mortgage proposal where creditworthy homebuyers could buy down their mortgages or save them on the average fifty-six hundred dollars a year. Let's fix housing first. That's what started all of this."
"And second, we think we ought to lower tax rates for medium- and low-income people," he added. "Those two things alone we think would go right at the problem rather than spending money on six hundred million dollars for new cars for federal employees in there and a hundred and fifty million dollars for honeybee insurance. This is nonsense."
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), appearing on the same TV show, said Democrats would be open to adding a Republican proposal to change the $7,500 tax credit given to new homebuyers, to $15,000 for all types of homebuyers.
"That's something that we look favorably upon. Getting mortgages down to four and a half percent as Senator McConnell mentioned. That's a good idea," he said.
Schumer, the vice chair of the Senate Dmocratic Caucus, also held a press conference on Friday with Mark Zand, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, to discuss the urgency of passing the stimulus. President Obama has shown great leadership in managing this process and Democrats have extended an open hand, indicating a willingness to compromise," he said.
The Senate version of the stimulus underwent changes last Tuesday after it was taken up by the Senate Finance Committee. The ranking minority member in the panel, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), won passage of a $69.8 billion amendment patching the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
The AMT is a tax introduced nearly four decades ago for high-income earners. Because it was never indexed for inflation, the AMT is due to affect middle-class families unless legislation is put in place. Grassley said in a statement on Tuesday his amendment will "prevent an unfair tax increase at a terrible time, when the economy is in recession."
President Barack Obama "will continue to do whatever is possible to get this bill going and to get it moved quickly to his desk," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a Friday press briefing.
Obama is scheduled to meet with congressional leaders together with Vice President Joe Biden Monday afternoon. He expressed optimism in his weekly address about the chances of the stimulus pasisng the Senate.
After warning of statistics that show the economy's continued collapse, including the Commerce Department's report that the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank the most since 1982, the President said, "The good news is that we are moving forward with a sense of urgency equal to the challenge."
But Obama also called on Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to come together, saying "With the stakes so high we simply cannot afford the same old gridlock and partisan posturing in Washington. It's time to move in a new direction."
The President's top economist, Christina Romer, said on Friday approval of the administration's stimulus is "critical" to stop the economy's decline. "Aggressive, well-designed fiscal stimulus is critical to reversing this severe decline and putting the economy on the road to recovery and improved long-run growth," Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement.
During debate in the House, Republicans had cited a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report saying only about $136 billion, or 38 percent, of the $355 billion the stimulus allocates for infrastructure projects is likely to be spent by 2010. Democrats have shot down the report, citing a letter from Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag saying the CBO's analysis "did not assess the overall package." The letter by Orszag, made public by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), also said at least 75 percent of the overall package will be spent over the next year and a half.
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