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For Obama, White House Keys Could Come With License to Spend
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One of Obama's first big fiscal tests will be shepherding stimulus spending through Congress. Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) raised the prospect of two or possibly three stimulus packages in the months ahead. If the Bush administration agrees to negotiate a deal, the first could be hammered out when lawmakers return to Washington on Nov. 17 for a brief session.
Hoyer and other lawmakers said they could work with Bush to put together a package worth about $100 billion. Or they could simply press the Senate to approve a $61 billion plan that passed the House last month. About half the money in that package would be dedicated to public-works projects in an effort to create jobs. The rest of the money would provide a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits, higher food-stamp allowances and aid to state governments to help pay for rising Medicaid costs.
The Bush administration has threatened to veto that package, but Democrats say a deal could be struck because the president has several last-minute agenda items he would like to see approved, including a free-trade pact with Colombia, which Democrats have opposed.
To boost the economy without unnecessarily increasing the nation's debt, economists agree, stimulus spending should be targeted, timely and, above all, temporary. That means no permanent new programs or tax cuts.
"There are those in our party that are going to want to pass new programs that they've been waiting on since 1994," when Republicans wrested control of Congress, said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), who leads a key bloc of Democratic deficit hawks whose ranks expanded in Tuesday's elections.
"We'll make sure we all make the difficult decisions that force the federal government to live within its means," Ross said, because "we see our job as helping to ensure we maintain this new Democratic majority."
Staff writer Paul Kane contributed to this report.
