Given their margins in both chambers of Congress and the control of the White House, the passage of a stimulus bill largely reflecting Democratic priorities was never in doubt. Late last night with the help of three Republican Senators, the nearly $800B stimulus was passed. Now it is on to the President for signature.
Not a single Republican House member supported the bill, and only three Senators did. The job Republican legislators did cannot be lauded enough. By relentlessly pointing out needless, unstimulative spending, Republicans generated enough public outcry to make the Democrats go back to the drawing board, cut out some of the spending, and lower the overall cost of the package.
It is a ridiculous example of overreach and excess. But without the stand of Republicans in Congress, it would have been worse.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
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8 comments:
So... how does the Alternative Minimum Tax provisions figure into the good/bad calculus? It's expensive ($69.8B, or nearly 1/10th the entire bill), and poorly targeted from a stimulus perspective.
Great question...since a good bit of the AMT issue gets "fixed" each year by the Congress, I think it is fair to say that they just took this year's version and moved it into the stimulus bill.
It is probably correct to say that 1/10 of the stimulus bill was going to happen anyway....so it is kind of a wash. I do agree it isn't the kind of stimulative tax cuts I like. Would love to see the AMT fixed permanently at some point..
I wonder if some of that outrageous spending may have been intended to be a red herring...if we're busy bitching about funding to save the salt marsh harvest mouse, then perhaps we won't notice the fact that welfare reform's progress has been set back decades, or that the road to universal health care has been made easier. Are Nancy and Harry smart enough to think of that?
I'm just dying to see what comes next. Another massive bank bailout? The aforementioned universal health care? My heart has been warmed by the GOP House members (and Cantor, Boehner and Pence have all gotten calls of thanks from me), but if they don't get out in front of some of this stuff with their own ideas, then they truly are going to look like the party of no they're being painted as. I know it's not a free-for-all day, but does anyone have any ideas on where they should start? Social Security? Energy policy?
Start by getting rid of the mortgage interest deduction :)
Can't wait to see what Wall Street does when it opens.
Hate to rain on a good series of rants, but the mouse didn't get any money. There was never any money in any draft or ammendment for it. It was an issue created in a house staffer's email.
Yay democracy. (BTW, rather than worrying baselessly about crap in the bill, why not read it or at least look at any of dozens of "how it will be spent" features on websites across the world. It will save you from spouting incorrect drivel from congresscritters of all stripes.)
Ok Anonymous--here's some stuff that IS in the bill--this came from a larger list from one of those websites you talk about....I went through and removed billions of dollars worth of items they considered to be wasteful--because whether wasteful or not, I saw a stimulative value in getting started on it (putting someone to work). What's left are the ones that strain credulity as emergency measures.
• $1 billion for the “FutureGen” not-ready-for-primetime near zero emission plant in Illinois
• $53.6 billion for the “state stabilization” slush fund
• $50 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $1.4 billion for wastewater disposal programs
• $295 million for administrative expenses associated with food stamp program
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
• $650 million for the DTV converter box coupon program
• $2 billion for Byrne JAG program
• $10 million to combat Mexican gunrunners
• $125 million for rural communities to combat drug crimes
• $1 billion for the COPS program
• $1 billion for NASA
• $300 million to purchase scientific instruments for colleges and museums
• $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $3.4 billion for fossil energy research (possibly including an earmark for FutureGen)
• $300 million for "green" cars for federal employees
• $20 million for IT upgrades at the Small Business Administration
• $200 million to design and furnish DHS headquarters
• $140 million for volcano monitoring systems
• $600 million for the EPA Superfund environmental cleanup program
• $200 million to clean up leaking underground storage tanks
• $500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
• $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities" (for "youth" up to 24 years old)
• $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
• $1 billion for Head Start
• $32 million for home-delivered nutrition services
• $160 million for volunteer programs at the Corporation for National and Community Service
• $500 million earmark for the SSA National Computer Center in MD
• $220 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico"
Is the funding for Obama's "Civilian National Security Force" (Nationale Zivilsicherheitskraft in the original German, or better yet... NaZi) in the package?
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