House-Senate talks shrink stimulus bill; tax breaks may go

[babylonsister]

House-Senate talks shrink stimulus bill; tax breaks may go

By David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — Lawmakers who are negotiating a final compromise economic-stimulus package tentatively agreed Wednesday on a $789.5 billion price tag and are seriously considering scaling back tax breaks for new car and home buyers while restoring some cuts in state education aid and health care.

The total cost would be well below the measures that the Senate and House of Representatives passed. The negotiators' view is that as long as the cost stays at or below $800 billion, they'd be able to attract some moderate Republican votes — crucial to Senate passage — even as some of the Republicans' favorite tax cuts are trimmed.

The House-Senate negotiators met late Tuesday and planned to resume meeting Wednesday afternoon. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Budget Director Peter Orszag have been involved in the discussions. They and House Democratic leaders have been adamant that school funding cuts be restored.

The House approved a $79 State Fiscal Stabilization Fund on Jan. 28 to help states with education costs, as well as $20 billion for school construction. The Senate cut the fund to $39 billion and provided no money for construction.

Some, but not all, of this money is likely to be restored, according to people close to the negotiations who couldn't be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/61963.html

[Joanne98]

1. You mean the "brother to brother" 15,000$ house swaption scheme is going?

YAY!

[Native]

3. says may be reduced - I hope to hell it's completely removed n/t

[Oregone]

2. Good, hope it happens.

[sandnsea]

4. Revert to the $7500 refundable

That $15,000 was bullshit to begin with. And lower income people never buy a new car, so that's just more money for the upper income too. Definitely better to put money in education and the health care infrastructure.

[iamjoy]

5. The Republicans Want It To Fail

I sometimes wonder if the Republicans want the stimulus to fail. There would be several reasons for this, some of them not as horrible as others.

1) They don't want Obama and the Democrats to be successful so they can seize power in 2010 and/or 2012.

2) They would seriously rather our economy get worse rather than implement socialist policies. They would rather the stimulus fail than compromise their free market principles. Remember "Better Dead Than Red"?

3) They just can't stand being wrong. They don't think it will work and would rather be right than have the economy turn around - nothing partisan here, just an inability to admit they made a mistake.

4) They don't believe the economy is really that bad. This is like the people who refuse to evacuate in the face of monster hurricanes - out of sheer denial and/or stubbornness rather than lack of means.

The thing is, some economists believe that a stimulus that is too small will not be effective. It is hard for average Americans to think of a trillion dollars as "too small" or inadequate, but that may be the reality. The Republicans want to try to get the stimulus small enough so that it has no chance of succeeding and then be able to blame the Democrats for its failure. And in a way, they will be right, it will be the Democrats fault for not standing their ground and also for trying to slip in things that weren't really stimulus (if only because it gives the Republicans an excuse to make a fuss) Take family planning funding. I was disappointed when I heard they cut this, but I have to admit - it isn't really stimulus (at least not the financial variety ;)). If the cause is noble and helps people in need but doesn't directly create jobs they should have come up with a separate emergency aid package and billed it as such.

[babylonsister]

6. Your #1-BINGO.

#4-I know even the rethugs aren't that dumb. All they have to do is look around, examine unemployment numbers, read a paper, fer cryin' out loud.

#3 wouldn't apply if they were really interested in compromise. See #1.

#2-Principles and rethugs? Didn't seem to stop them from supporting all of idiot son's plans that created such a huge deficit to begin with.

#1 - that's the ticket.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

7. this has been my suspicion for a while

it is the old "drown in the bathtub" thing.

When our economy is so bad, and the government so broke, the new deal and all social spending, including SS will have to be eliminated.

The repubs want the stimulus to fail, no doubt about it.

[daninthemoon]

8. limballs said it for them, or perhaps gave them their marching orders

No matter wether the economy gets better, worse, or stays the same in two years, the rethugs are going to play the hand that they did not do this package. If things get better (least likely), they will say this is proof that no stimulus was needed, or that things would have been even better without it. If things stay the same or get worse, they will scream that they had nothing to do with it, and point to their no votes as proof. A total collapse of the country serves them best. It's sick, and I hope the public has finally gotten wise. Like the President says, the public voted for a change from the bullshit tax cut trickle down fabrication. Don't make any more compromises in this bill, because the rethugs are going to reject it no matter what it includes.