economic stimulus package

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President Gets Personal With Swing Senators

Holds highly unusual 1-on-1 meetings with stimulus holdouts

(Newser) - President Obama is reaching across the aisle to moderate senators whose votes are crucial to passage of the economic stimulus bill. He put in a call to John McCain, who has been a vocal critic of the bill’s current incarnation. “We'd like to sit down and try to...

Obama: Stimulus Critics 'Misguided'

(Newser) - President Obama goes to bat for his stimulus package today in an editorial in the Washington Post, calling it “more than a prescription for short-term spending—it’s a strategy for America’s long-term growth.” He says the criticisms of it are “misguided,” advocating “half-steps...

Senate Dilutes 'Buy American' Plan

Amendment calls for stimulus plan to honor existing trade agreements

(Newser) - The Senate has voted to water down the "Buy American" clause in the economic stimulus package amid fears it could trigger a trade war, Reuters reports. The requirement that stimulus-funded projects use American-made iron, steel and manufactured goods now includes the proviso that it only be applied in a...

Senate Backs $15K Tax Break for Homebuyers

(Newser) - The Senate voted tonight to give a tax break of up to $15,000 to homebuyers in hopes of revitalizing the housing industry. The move is a victory for Republicans eager to leave their mark on the mammoth economic stimulus bill. The proposal would allow a tax credit of 10...

Japan's PM Slams 'Buy American' Provision

World leaders roundly criticize stimulus provision

(Newser) - Japan’s prime minister today slammed the “Buy American” clause in the proposed economic-stimulus bill currently being considered by the US Senate, the Financial Times reports. Speaking in parliament, Taro Aso said that requiring stimulus projects to use US-made materials is “definitely wrong,” and contrary to the...

Obama and McCain Back at It, Over Stimulus

'Season of cooperation' short-lived as Mac rips 'comical' spending bill

(Newser) - How to spend hundreds of billions of dollars has a way of opening up old rivalries, the Washington Times reports, with John McCain—who recently pledged to cooperate with President Obama—spearheading the Senate effort to rewrite the stimulus package. “I cannot and do not support the package on...

Pelosi, Not GOP, Thorn in Obama's Side
 Pelosi, Not GOP, 
 Thorn in Obama's Side 
ANALYSIS
Feb 4, 2009 10:10 AM CST

Pelosi, Not GOP, Thorn in Obama's Side

President's relationship with House speaker on the rocks over stimulus

(Newser) - President Obama might have criticized how House Republicans rolled over for President Bush, but likely expected something similar from Democrats. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already shown she won’t hew to Obama’s agenda, reports Time. They’re out of step on the auto bailout, tax cuts, and most...

Senate Dems Don't Have Votes to Pass Stimulus

Senate moderates, GOP insist on stripping out billions

(Newser) - President Obama’s first big bill, the stimulus package passed by the House, lacks the votes to clear a Senate filibuster, reports the Washington Post. Senate moderates are proposing to strip $200 billion in spending to win GOP supporters. Says Democratic whip Dick Durbin, “100 decisions” will be “...

Tax Breaks for Car Buyers Added to Stimulus Package

Senate approves boost for auto industry as sales hit 27-year low

(Newser) - A new boost for automakers and car dealers has been added to the stimulus package before the Senate, reports the Los Angeles Times. The amendment—made on the same day that US car makers reported their worst sales in 27 years—would create an income tax deduction for both sales...

Lobbyists Lard Up Senate Stimulus

Tax benefits for ag, pharmaceuticals inserted into bill

(Newser) - With the Senate debate on its stimulus bill cranking up today, interest groups are scrambling to extract their pound of flesh. The Wall Street Journal reports that lobbyists have already helped swell the total to $885 billion, in many cases with small changes in wording and technical definitions. For example,...

GOP Circulates Plan to Cut Mortgage Costs

Proposal aimed at changing Obama's stimulus package

(Newser) - Senate Republicans circulated a sweeping plan to drive down the cost of mortgages by expanding the federal government's role in the industry, officials said today as debate opened on an economic stimulus bill at the top of President Barack Obama's agenda. The emerging proposal also relies on a bigger and...

Obama Stimulus Is Good Politics, Bad Economics

(Newser) - Just days ago, President Obama said it was time for “tough choices,” but Obama himself hasn’t made the tough choices on his stimulus package, Robert Samuelson writes in the Washington Post. Obama could have opted to bolster the economy, or he could have tried to pursue a...

Parties Partisan on Obama's Bipartisanship

GOP says it's failed already; president takes a longer view

(Newser) - Barack Obama won two legislative victories this week, but he didn’t get any help from Republicans doing it, despite multiple attempts to reach out to them. The GOP is touting that as a victory, hoping Obama will make concessions to win their votes, even if he doesn’t need...

Welfare Rolls Not Expanding to Meet Crisis

The 1996 reform is making it tougher for needy to get help as economy flatlines

(Newser) - Welfare programs, rewritten in 1996 to give individual states more control, do not seem to be responding to the growing needs of the disadvantaged as the economy tanks and unemployment soars, reports the New York Times. Some 18 states—including many of those with the highest job losses—actually cut...

What the Stimulus Package Would Get Us

$800 billion, $647-page tome means big gov't again

(Newser) - President Obama’s $800 billion stimulus plan—which stood at 647 pages when it passed the House last week—signals a return to “unabashed” big government, the Los Angeles Times reports. Here’s what it means:
  • For the next 2 years, individuals making under $75,000 will get a
...

Laid-Off? Be Your Own Boss

Interest in small business is booming as unemployment rises

(Newser) - The pink slips are flowing, but that’s not halting thousands from using severance packages and savings to found their own businesses, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The new gigs often bear little resemblance to past ones—one Wall Street exec now walks dogs—and differ from the economy at...

Senate Queasy on Spending in Obama Stimulus
Senate Queasy on Spending in Obama Stimulus
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP
Feb 1, 2009 11:30 AM CST

Senate Queasy on Spending in Obama Stimulus

Kyl: 'Start from scratch;' McConnell vows Dems won't get 60 seats

(Newser) - The level of spending in Barack Obama’s House-approved $819 billion stimulus package will complicate its Senate passage, say two senators whose support will be crucial. “Unfortunately, this bill has become a Christmas tree,” Republican Susan Collins told CNN, while Democratic colleague Ben Nelson said, “There’s...

Palin Among GOP Govs Backing Obama Plan

(Newser) - Most Republican governors have broken with GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works, and health care, the AP reports. Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors welcome the money from...

New Labor Radio Ad Beats Up on Rush
New Labor Radio Ad Beats Up on Rush
Jan 30, 2009 3:00 PM CST

New Labor Radio Ad Beats Up on Rush

Attacks GOP senators, tells them not to side with Limbaugh

(Newser) - A radio ad is making the rounds in Cleveland, Reno, and Philadelphia, slamming the local Republican senator and the apparent leader of the opposition: Rush Limbaugh. The ad, from the labor-backed Americans United for Change, slams House Republicans who “voted with Limbaugh against creating 4 million new American jobs....

Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers
Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers
OPINION
Jan 30, 2009 1:27 PM CST

Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers

Party has ditched his wise stimulus ideas of summer

(Newser) - Throughout 2008 Larry Summers was proposing the right kind of stimulus—fast, targeted, and temporary. “Poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease,” he warned. Now Summers is a top Obama adviser, but Democrats are ignoring his every proviso. The stimulus is a “...

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