Obama, Dems Plan a Main Street Stimulus
October 13, 2008 - by Donny Shaw
While the Bush Administration tries to decide how to use their new Wall Street bailout powers, Democrats in Congress are working out the details of a $150 billion plan to provide jobs and help out people struggling on Main Street. Consulting with Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), the Democratic leadership has come up with the framework for a Main Street stimulus plan that will probably include an extension of unemployment insurance, more money for food stamps and additional funds for transportation infrastructure projects to create new jobs.
A formal announcement of what will be in the new stimulus package could come Monday afternoon, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democrats will be holding an economic forum to discuss the stimulus package with a panel of economists.
The tentative plan is to bring Congress back after the election on November 4th in a lame-duck session to get the stimulus passed. If the politics don’t work out then, the stimulus package will have to wait until the next session of Congress convenes in January, and even then it may still take a month or two to get the bill completed. For now, Republicans in Congress are tentatively on board for some kind of stimulus package:
>Rep. Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican who serves as House minority leader, said he would support a stimulus plan if it did not include massive public works spending and budget bailouts for states that overspent on health care and other social programs.
>
>"A stimulus plan that makes sense is something that I’ll be helpful with," Blunt said, also on ABC television.
Both the public works spending and the money for state budget shortfalls have come straight from Barack Obama’s economic stimulus proposal. His website states that he would include a “$25 billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing, and heating assistance or counterproductive increases in property taxes, tolls or fees” and “$25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance and fund school repair – all to save more than 1 million jobs in danger of being cut.”
Unlike what is being talked about by congressional Democrats, Obama’s stimulus proposal includes a provision to help it pay for itself. He calls for enacting a “windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits” in order to make back some of the money that will be spent stimulating the economy. So far, Democrats have not proposed a plan to pay for the $150 billion in new spending they are calling for in their stimulus package. When the bill comes up for consideration in November, this will probably be a major sticking point with both Republicans and the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats.
Obama’s plan also calls for another round of tax rebates, which some reports suggest will be included in the Democrats’ stimulus bill while others do not. We’ll be updating as more details are released.
UPDATE: From The Hill:
>House Democratic leaders on Monday announced a broad economic recovery package aimed at the middle class that they say needs to be enacted in the wake of the Wall Street rescue bill.
>
>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led a meeting of almost a dozen top House Democrats and about as many economists on Monday morning. She said the group coalesced around a general economic recovery package aimed at aiding states, extending unemployment insurance benefits, investing in transportation and infrastructure, and perhaps providing a new round of tax rebate checks.
>
>Pelosi said the package would be hammered out after various committees hold hearings in the coming weeks, adding that it may well exceed the $61 billion economic stimulus package that the House recently passed. That measure stalled in the Senate.
>
>“We plan to go forward expeditiously but not hastily,” Pelosi said.
>
>The Speaker did not answer directly whether or not she will convene a lame-duck session of Congress following the Nov. 4 elections but indicated that it is a possibility.
>
>“We will have the hearings and we’ll see what they yield,” she said. “We stand ready to take action when we are ready to do so.”
And here’s Pelosi today on the current lack of bipartisan agreement regarding the stimulus package:
>“The last time we did something in a bipartisan way, it seemed to be a largely Republican package with largely Democratic votes,” Pelosi said to reporters.
>
>“If it is going to happen that way, we might as well write the bill ourselves and do the right thing for the American people.”
>
>Pelosi said she is ready to work with her GOP colleagues on the package, but so far “what we have gotten from Republicans is rejection.”
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This is horrible! Though Obama at least has a plan on how it would pay for itself by taxing the oil companies profits all they are doing is putting a band aid on a heart attack victim.
It's just EIC like Clinton. It's the same program as 'it's the economy stupid.' The real jobs are getting filled like federal jobs. FSOs are being hired and filled; all those federal jobs are getting hired.
Obama and dems are 'the poor stay poor and the rich get richer.'
I am a republican. I know that we all can use some help now. They need to work together on the plan and pass it. I am NOT happy with Jim Jordan and John Boehner at all. They are both clueless as to what is going on in our state of Ohio. Jim Jordan voted NO to the unemployment extension and John Boy didn't bother to show up to cast his vote. It is time for all members of congress (Dem's & Rep's alike) to get this economy going and to know that people need HELP. They jumped on the Wall Street Bailout quick enough but the heck with Main Street. Just in case people are wondering I am NOT on unemployment but I know a lot of people that are and there are NO jobs out there for them to apply for. Get with it Congress the working class are what keeps America going!
Wall Street is Main Street. Everything is interconnected. The problem arose from "the street" was packaged by Wall Street and now is being paid for by Middleclass Street lest the end up on the street.
How poetic. But let's not leave congress out of the equation. After all, when congress tells Wall/Main street that they will guarantee bad sub-prime loans, which congress by the way dictated financial institutions must issue to be "fair" to unqualified borrowers, then yes, financial institutions will comply. If there were no such guarantee against risk, then Wall/Main street would not have issued the bad loans.
"While the Bush Administration tries to decide..."
@ Donny
Ah Mr. Journalist do your homework ! The Treasury has already put a plan into effect that divides the problem into 5 distinct areas. Each area is headed by an expert with years of experience both private and public sector.
Editorializing within the context of a supposed news story doesn't help anyone except your own self serving interests.
Please try and be objective the next time and I and others might continue to read your work.
Thanks for the criticism. Seriously. Just wanted to point out that this post was published at about 2AM on Sunday night. That was around the time a consensus was forming around taking equity stakes in banks, but well before the big official announcement that came this morning.
The federal employees are doing just fine. They're richer than the middle class.
Moderated Comment
JUDICIAL INJUSTICES BEING INFLICTED ON POORER AMERICANS NEEDS....C*H*A*N*G*E.....
SENATOR OBAMA, PLEASE LET THE AMERICAN VOTERS AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY KNOW YOUR FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT A NEEDED FUTURE REPAIR AND RENOVATION OF A BROKEN US JUDICIAL SYSTEM THAT CONTINUES TO ALLOW THE EXECUTION'S OF EVEN POSSIBLE INNOCENT AMERICAN’S LIKE TROY DAVIS OF GEORGIA ?????
BEING THE WEALTHIEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD SENATOR OBAMA, DON'T WE NEED AS THE LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD TO BEGIN ONCE AGAIN TO RE-INVEST THE PROPER MONIE$ IN OUR OWN US JUDICIAL SYSTEM, ASSURING ALL OF OUR CITIZENS THEIR RIGHTS TO FAIR TRIALS WITH PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION ???
DOES GOD NEED TO LOBBY OUR US CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD ON BEHALF OF OUR poorer american’s SENATOR OBAMA,OR ARE YOU WATCHING OUT FOR THEM ?? ***OUR US CONGRESS CONTINUES TO DENY MIDDLE CLASS AND WORKING POOR AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION EVEN THOUGH WRONGFUL EXECUTIONS & FALSE INCARCERATIONS CONTINUE ALL ACROSS AMERICA ???
*** 700 BILLION $$$ AVAILABLE FOR US BAILOUT, & NO $$$ FOR ALL POORER AMERICANS PROPER LEGAL REPRESENTATION ?
SENATOR OBAMA, THIS JUDICIAL INJUSTICE HAS BECOME AN AMERICAN ART FORM, AND NO LONGER CAN BE KEPT HIDDEN OR SECRET FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE EVEN IF CERTAIN (501c3) U$ RELIGIOU$ LEADER$ HAVE BEEN $ILENCED ??
LETS ALL HOPE OUR MEDIA FRIENDS CONTINUE TO SHOW AN INTEREST IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS) FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA’S LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????
WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL INJUSTICE CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK & LATINO AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????
*** WHEN GOD’S FACE BECAME VERY RED *** THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS (MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????
**** INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS ! THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.
****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY **** The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000 total US prison population nationwide.
***WHERE ARE AMERICA'S RELIGIOUS LEADERS ???????
Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their freedom through being granted new retrials.
This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.
This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!
Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide) without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus with our US FEDERAL COURTS and will win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!
For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.
It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a waste of taxpayers $$.
This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World! ***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY !
A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
1) YAHOO 2) GOOGLE MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.
** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !
***Someone please tell our US Congress that the GED degree that Manny Gonzales acquired in prison is not a LAW DEGREE !!!!!!
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com (424-247-2013)
There lots of spending in our country, and it’s really hard to budget the money to be used for this stimulus package. But, which of these must be prioritized? There are a few piggyback riders on the economic stimulus bill. One for providing aid to childcare on military bases, and the other is a chunk of change that will enhance sex education in the U.S., these are the two parts of this stimulus. However, this may not be the best time for this kind of expense. These are good measures, but they deserve their own bill.