WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama warned Congress yesterday not to let “modest” differences delay his stimulus plan, while Republicans demanded dramatic changes to a bill now priced at almost $900 billion.
Obama is trying to live up to his campaign vow of encouraging bipartisan cooperation, and would also like to build Republican goodwill for future big-ticket agenda items.
But last week, when the House passed its version of the stimulus none of the House’s 178 Republicans voted for the bill passed by the Democratic majority. Minority Republicans in the Senate have the power to delay the bill, but are not expected to kill it, especially given the rapidly worsening economic conditions.
Obama spoke in the Oval Office before the Senate took up the stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives last week. “What we can’t do is let very modest differences get in the way of the overall package moving forward quickly,” he said, adding that he still hoped to get a bill passed within the next “couple of weeks.”
Obama appeared in the Oval Office alongside Vermont’s Republican Gov. Jim Douglas in a meeting highlighting how the stimulus package will funnel aid to cash-strapped states to boost employment, consumption and social spending. Meanwhile, Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned earlier yesterday that major changes were needed and that most of his Republican members believe the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus bill could be cut.
“The package that most of my members would support would be dramatically different from what passed the House,” McConnell told reporters, adding that it would be also “dramatically different” from the current Senate version.
McConnell said there also appears to be considerable Senate Democratic “unrest” with the package of tax cuts and spending proposals. Members of both political parties have complained that some of the proposed spending would not stimulate the economy and should be eliminated.
Republicans, some of whom are starting to speak in terms of a “trillion dollar” stimulus plan, complain the bill contains insufficient tax cuts, which they argue would stimulate public demand. In the perennial debate over the size of the US government, they also fault much of the vast infrastructure spending programs contained in the bill, support for social programs and funding for state initiatives.
“There’s too much spending, too much unnecessary spending, not the right kind of tax cuts and no endgame,” Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, told CBS.
The House Democrats’ political arm is working hard to help Obama get his plan, and is launching a radio, email and telephone campaign against 28 House Republicans in 20 states who voted against the $819 billion economic stimulus package last week.
The “Putting Families First” campaign will begin airing this morning on drive time radio and run throughout the week. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also said they would target three million voters with an email campaign and make 100,000 phone calls.
Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison warned on CNBC television yesterday that the Democrats would “own” the package if they pushed it through Congress without Republican support and it didn’t work.
