Blog - Articles Tagged 'Stimulus'

Between road tripping up the East Coast, weathering a Nor’easter and celebrating 2009, I’ve lost track of the Congress rumor mill a bit. So, rather than try to fall right back into step, here’s a rundown of what’s been happening over the past few days with some of the major themes shaping up as the 111th Congress gets ready to convene on Tuesday.

The Stimulus Package

• The first steps for passing the stimulus package, which is expected to cost about $775 billion over two years, will be a meeting between President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders on Monday and a Democrats-only committee hearing on Wednesday.
  
  

The Obamas will be officially moving to Washington D.C. on Monday, and as Sasha and Malia start up at their new school, Barack will have his first set of meetings with Congress to begin negotiating the size and scope of the stimulus package he is pushing.

On Wednesday, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee will hear testimony from several economists and begin to nail down the Democatic Caucus’ priorities for inclusion in the legislation. “This hearing will build upon the stimulus package the House passed in September and the numerous hearings held by our other committees, to ensure we make the necessary investments in an innovative and bold way to strengthen the economy,” Nancy Pelosi said in her announcement of the hearing. It’s still unclear whether the stimulus will go through other committees before it is brought to a vote before the full House and passed by the expanded Democratic majority.

Republicans are hoping that they process will be slowed down a bit. “I would ask the Democratic leadership to guarantee that such a bill will not be brought to the floor of the House unless there have been public hearings in the appropriate committees, the entire text has been available online for the American people to review for at least one week, and it includes no special-interest earmarks,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) earlier this week.

• Vice President-elect Joe Biden said last week that the stimulus “will not become a Christmas tree” for lawmakers’ pet projects. But the $73 billion wish list of infrastructure projects that state and local officials have submitted to Obama includes a lot of things that sound like classic pork:

>By all accounts, the $73 billion wish list may be the largest collection of parochial spending projects in American history. Strolling through the 800 pages, we found such beauties as: $1 million to upgrade the Los Angeles County Convention Center elevated “catwalk” for cameras and lighting; $350,000 for an Albuquerque, N.M., fitness center; $94 million for a parking garage at the Orange Bowl in Miami; $4.5 million for Gretna, Florida, to bottle water with recyclable bottles; a $35 million music hall of fame in Florissant, Missouri, and $3.1 million for a swimming pool in Tulsa.

• Patrick Ruffini gives us a hint as to what the Republican stimulus strategy might be:

>As a matter of practical reality, our numbers in the Senate and House are such that no Republican proposal will become law. The opportunity to finesse the Democratic stimulus is not there because the playing field is titled so far in the Democrats’ direction. With hopeless minorities, we are freer to demonstrate what we would do in an ideal governing situation, instead of trying to make the White House’s proposal less bad.
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>The best strategy is to create a nucleus of energy around a proposal as diametrically opposed to President Obama’s as humanly possible, thus pulling the eventual Gang of 14 to 20 “compromise” as far to the right as can be mustered.
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>If some sort of fiscal expansion is a given, and there is no way to paint a more modest set of permanent tax cuts as unreasonable when compared to an $800 billion stimulus, we might as well take this opportunity to have a public debate about the best way to stimulate the economy: tax cuts or spending hikes. To do that, though, the official Republican position on spending needs to be as clean as the driven snow.

Filling the Senate

• Senate Democrats are prepared to use police force to block Roland Burris:

>The aide familiar with Senate Democratic leaders’ plans said if Burris tries to enter the Senate chamber, the Senate doorkeeper will stop Burris. If Burris were to persist, either trying to force his way onto the Senate floor or refusing to leave and causing a scene, U.S. Capitol Police would stop him, said the aide.
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>"They (police) probably won’t arrest him" but they would call the sergeant-at-arms," the aide said.

Some thoughts on the matter from Chris Bowers:

>It is more than a little worrying that the only moment when Senate Democrats decide to take the gloves off is to block a Democrat who was legally appointed to the Senate from being seated. Kind of makes you think that Senate Democrats are more willing to stand up to other Democrats than they are to Republicans.

• Sounds like Caroline Kennedy will be the new Senator from New York:

>Officials say the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy will be the governor’s choice to fill the New York Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
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>Two people close to Gov. David Paterson tell The Associated Press they believe Caroline Kennedy will be his choice, but the governor cautions he’s still looking.

• And we’ve got a replacement for Ken Salazar in Colorado:

>Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet will be named Saturday as the future U.S. Senate replacement for Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar, according to two Democratic sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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>Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to name Bennet on Saturday, ending a brief but frenzied period of speculation about who will take the seat of Interior Secretary nominee Ken Salazar.
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>Though he’s never run for office, Bennet, 44, has strong connections to Colorado’s power base: He’s been the school superintendent for 31/2 years and was Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff. He also was managing director of Anschutz Investment Co from 1997-2003.

In his weekly radio and video address this morning, President-elect Obama gave the most detailed description yet of his economic stimulus proposal:

Here are the five things he says the stimulus will do:

• double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient;

• engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools;

• update and computerize our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year;

• build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries;

• provide direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers.
  
  

Obama will meet with Democrat and Republican congressional leaders on Monday to negotiate the size and scope of the stimulus package, and on Wednesday the House Steering and Policy Committee will hold the first hearing of the 111th Congress to discuss the proposal.

President-elect Barack Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi today after a private meeting to discuss the economic stimulus package:

• S.1 – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

A bill to create jobs, restore economic growth, and strengthen America’s middle class through measures that modernize the nation’s infrastructure, enhance America’s energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need, and for other purposes.

• S.2 – Middle Class Opportunity Act of 2009

A bill to improve the lives of middle class families and provide them with greater opportunity to achieve the American dream.

• S.3 – Homeowner Protection and Wall Street Accountability Act of 2009
  
  A bill to protect homeowners and consumers by reducing foreclosures, ensuring the availability of credit for homeowners, businesses, and consumers, and reforming the financial regulatory system, and for other purposes.

• S.4 – Comprehensive Health Reform Act of 2009

A bill to guarantee affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans, and for other purposes.

• S.5 – Cleaner, Greener, and Smarter Act of 2009

A bill to improve the economy and security of the United States by reducing the dependence of the United States on foreign and unsustainable energy sources and the risks of global warming, and for other purposes.

• S.6 – Restoring America’s Power Act of 2009

A bill to restore and enhance the national security of the United States.

• S.7 – Education Opportunity Act of 2009

A bill to expand educational opportunities for all Americans by increasing access to high-quality early childhood education and after school programs, advancing reform in elementary and secondary education, strengthening mathematics and science instruction, and ensuring that higher education is more affordable, and for other purposes.

• S.8 – Returning Government to the American People Act

A bill to return the Government to the people by reviewing controversial “midnight regulations” issued in the waning days of the Bush Administration.

• S.9 – Stronger Economy, Stronger Borders Act of 2009

A bill to strengthen the United States economy, provide for more effective border and employment enforcement, and for other purposes.

• S.10 – Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009

A bill to restore fiscal discipline and begin to address the long-term fiscal challenges facing the United States, and for other purposes.

TAPPED broke this list on Tuesday, and they have some more information on some of these bills from a Democratic aide on the hill.

The full text of these bills hasn’t been published by the Government Printing Office yet, but it should be available within the next 24 hours or so. Check back at the “see full bill text” link on the OpenCongress bill pages. In the meantime, you might want to start tracking some of these with your “My OpenCongress” account (login or register) to be alerted to any legislative action that is taken and every new blog post or news article is published about them.

These first 10 Senate bills are mainly symbolic. They’re a statement of the Democrats’ legislative priorities at this point for the next two years, but any legislative action that’s taken on these measures could very well come in a different form. The first ten Senate bills of the last session included some measures that were enacted (minimum wage increase, ethics reform), some that were vetoed by President Bush (funding for stem cell research) and some that were hotly debated but never passed Congress (comprehensive immigration reform).

UPDATE: Way more info on all these bills from the Democratic Policy Committee. Be sure to check it out.

UPDATE: And here is a pdf file of the full bill text. $825 billion in 258 pages.

New York Times:

>House Democrats on Thursday unveiled an $825 billion economic recovery package, an expansive combination of spending and tax cuts that aims to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work and halt what is widely believed to be the nation’s worst recession since the Depression.
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>The package, developed by Congressional Democrats in partnership with President-elect Barack Obama, includes huge increases in federal spending on education, aid to states for Medicaid costs, temporary increases in unemployment benefits and a vast array of public works projects to create jobs.
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>The Senate is developing a version of the recovery package and intense haggling and fierce lobbying are expected over the next few weeks, not just between Democrats and Republicans but between the new administration and Congress, as lawmakers push to pass the stimulus bill by mid-February.
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>But the House version, introduced on Thursday morning by the Appropriations Committee chairman, Representative David Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin, contains the broad parameters that are expected to remain in the final product — slightly more than 60 percent in new spending and just under 40 percent on tax cuts.

The full text of the legislation hasn’t been released yet, but you can get more detailed information, including a break down of all the spending items, from the House Appropriations Committee’s executive summary (.pdf). The summary claims that the bill includes an unprecedented level of transparency, oversight and accountability. That’s the kind of thing we’ll need the text to verify, but these items from the summary sound like they could be pretty good:

>* How funds are spent, all announcements of contract and grant competitions and awards, and formula grant allocations must be posted on a special website created by the President. Program managers will also be listed so the public knows who to hold accountable.
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>* Public notification of funding must include a description of the investment funded, the purpose, the total cost and why the activity should be funded with recovery dollars. Governors, mayors or others making funding decisions must personally certify that the investment has been fully vetted and is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. This will also be placed on the recovery website.

The website picture above – Recovery.gov – will soon be transformed into a database for information on new spending originating from the $825 billion economic stimulus package. This part of Congress’s effort to bring “a historic level of transparency, oversight and accountability” to the stimulus so that “taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and Americans can see results for their investment,” as stated in the draft summary. Below is the mandate to build the site contained in the House’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (.pdf):

>SEC. 1226. RECOVERY.GOV.
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>(a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH WEBSITE.— The Board shall establish and maintain a website on the Internet to be named Recovery.gov, to foster greater accountability and transparency in the use of funds made avail1able in this Act.
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>(b) PURPOSE.—Recovery.gov shall be a portal or gateway to key information related to this Act and provide a window to other Government websites with related information.
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>© MATTERS COVERED.—In establishing the website Recovery.gov, the Board shall ensure the following:
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>(1) The website shall provide materials explaining what this Act means for citizens. The materials shall be easy to understand and regularly updated.

(2) The website shall provide accountability information, including a database of findings from audits, inspectors general, and the Government Accountability Office.

(3) The website shall provide data on relevant economic, financial, grant, and contract information in user-friendly visual presentations to enhance public awareness of the use funds made available in this Act.

(4) The website shall provide detailed data on contracts awarded by the Government for purposes of carrying out this Act, including information about the competitiveness of the contracting process, noti1fication of solicitations for contracts to be awarded, and information about the process that was used for the award of contracts.

(5) The website shall include printable reports on funds made available in this Act obligated by month to each State and congressional district.

(6) The website shall provide a means for the public to give feedback on the performance of contracts awarded for purposes of carrying out this Act.

(7) The website shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry out the purposes of this subtitle.

And here are some more specifics from the bill text on exactly what information is going to have to be posted:

>(1) INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT FUNDING.—
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>With respect to funds made available under this Act for infrastructure investments to Federal, State, or local government agencies, the following requirements apply:
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>(A) Each such agency shall notify the public of funds obligated to particular infrastructure investments by posting the notification on the website Recovery.gov.

(B) The notification required by subparagraph (A) shall include the following:
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>(i) A description of the infrastructure investment funded.

(ii) The purpose of the infrastructure investment.

(iii) The total cost of the infrastructure investment.

(iv) The rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure investment with funds made available under this Act.

(v) The name of the person to contact at the agency if there are concerns with the infrastructure investment and, with respect to Federal agencies, an email address for the Federal official in the agency whom the public can contact.

(vi) In the case of State or local agencies, a certification from the Governor, mayor, or other chief executive, as appropriate, that the infrastructure investment has received the full review and vetting required by law and that the chief executive accepts responsibility that the infrastructure investment is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. A State or local agency may not receive infrastructure investment funding from funds made available in this Act unless this certification is made.
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>(2) OPERATIONAL FUNDING.—
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>With respect to funds made available under this Act in the form of grants for operational purposes to State or local government agencies or other organizations, the agency or organization shall publish on the website Recoery.gov a description of the intended use of the funds, including the number of jobs sustained or created.
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>© AVAILABILITY ON INTERNET OF CONTRACTS AND GRANTS.—Each contract awarded or grant issued using funds made available in this Act shall be posted on the Internet and linked to the website Recovery.gov. Proprietary data that is required to be kept confidential under applicable Federal or State law or regulation shall be redacted before posting.

• The House Ways and Means Committee released details today about the tax provisions falling under their jurisdiction in the stimulus bill. Tax cuts in the bill total about $275 billion and include Obama’s “Making Work Pay Credit” for the middle class, refundable higher education tax credits, first-time home-buyer credits, renewable energy incentives and a smattering of tax cuts for businesses. The Committee will begin work on this section of the bill next week.
  
  

• OMB Watch looks at the tax provisions from a stimulus perspective (how quickly and effectively they will put money into the economy, where it will be spent), and gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  
  

• Republican Minority Leader John Boehner (OH) reacts to the draft legislation today: “The plan released this morning by congressional Democrats was developed with no Republican input and appears to be grounded in the flawed notion that we can simply borrow and spend our way back to prosperity.” He also points out some items from the bill he finds particularly egregious – “600 million for new cars for the federal government,” “$1 billion “to minimize undercounting of minority groups” in the 2010 census,” etc.
  
  

• At an afternoon press conference, David Obey (D-WI), the House Appropriations chairman who has been a key player in assembling the stimulus bill, tried to lower expectations. “You have to look at this bill not as a salvation for the economy by any means,” he said. “It’s simply the largest effort by any legislative body on the planet to try to take action to prevent economic catastrophe.”
  
  

• In case you haven’t seen an outline of the spending items in the bill, here it is from Open Left.
  
  

• Free Press is pleased that the stimulus includes $6 billion for broadband deployment to rural areas, but they are worried that it will end up being a giveaway to the big telco companies. They want Congress to attach public service conditions to the money. “We urge that these dollars be tied to clear public service principles and concrete administrative accountability,” they write in a letter to David Obey. “Broadband as economic recovery should be ‘build-out,’ not ‘bail-out.’”
  
  

• Congress Daily ($):

>Lawmakers working to spur the adoption of electronic medical records should not rush the process, a key Senate Democrat said today. As she chaired a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on health IT, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said that she will work with colleagues and President-elect Obama to craft a sound bill but cautioned against moving too quickly. “I’ve seen where we’ve … thrown a lot of money at stuff, and ended up with a boondoggle,” said Mikulski, who chairs the Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee as well as the HELP Aging Subcommittee. “We can’t afford to waste time on a fool’s journey.” Mikulski predicted an Appropriations Committee markup of the stimulus bill would occur before February, but after the hearing she declined to say whether the Senate version would contain the $20 billion for health IT that House Democrats included in the $825 billion stimulus package they unveiled today.

This strikes me as an important point about stimulus spending in general. In order for the spending to provide a stimulus affect, it needs to get into the economy as quickly as possible. But moving too quickly on some of the stuff in the House’s bill (like adopting electronic medial records) could jeopardize how well it is executed and how effective it is in the long run.

• And for the sake of putting all this stuff together in one place, here again are links to the bill text released by the House Appropriations Committee today and a summary of the bill (both .pdfs).

Anything to add?

This caught my eye, from Congress Daily ($):

>House Appropriations Chairman David Obey set off a firestorm recently by including report language for the House economic stimulus package that implied that $1 billion to fund research to compare the effectiveness of medical treatments would keep patients from more-expensive medications and procedures — and even staffers who crafted the bill language are fuming over the report.
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>"The trouble is not with the legislative language, which was carefully crafted with all relevant committees in both chambers to be neutral on cost and coverage issues. It is the draft report language that has raised concerns," one House Democratic aide said. “Many people who are committed to advancing [comparative-effectiveness research] would like to see it changed to better reflect the intent of the actual legislative language before this process is over.”

>[…]

>According to Obey’s report language, “By knowing what works best and presenting this information more broadly to patients and healthcare professionals, those items, procedures, and interventions that are most effective to prevent, control, and treat health conditions will be utilized, while those that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed.”

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>Opponents and even some proponents of comparative effectiveness research fear government use of the outcomes of certain research will affect patient access to treatments when the results are used for coverage determinations.
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>"[The stimulus bill] basically could lead to singling out one particular drug for a formulary," Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., said. Emerson introduced comparative-effectiveness research legislation in the previous Congress but does not support the stimulus language.
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>The report language further aggravated those who are typically against any comparative-effectiveness research that could be applied to coverage, including pharmaceutical and biologic drugmakers, as well as some health policy experts.

Here’s a link to download the full report text, and here’s the full bill text (comparative-effectiveness research language occurring on pages 158-60).

Though committee reports, like this one, don’t actually carry the weight of law, they are used by the executive departments and courts as authoritative resources for understanding the purpose and meaning of legislation. Obey’s report language could have a strong impact on how the legislation is carried out by the Department of Health and Human Services.