House passes Economic Stimulus Bill that would include more funding for health insurance for low-income people
29 09 08 - 14:27
House Backs Stimulus Bill, but It Stalls in Senate
By ROBERT PEAR - The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The House on Friday passed a bill intended to revive the economy with $61 billion of federal spending, but the Senate blocked consideration of a similar bill, and President Bush issued veto threats against both.
The economic recovery package, approved in the House by a vote of 264 to 158, has little chance of becoming law on its own. But it could become a bargaining chip in negotiations between Congress and the White House over Mr. Bush’s $700 billion proposal to shore up the nation’s financial system.
Moreover, Democrats said the legislation served a political purpose, giving them an opportunity, they said, to put Republicans on record against helping people who are struggling in a sluggish economy.
Representative David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the bill “would make life a little less miserable for people who have been hit hard by the economic chaos that’s swept over the country.”
Another Democrat, Representative Sander M. Levin of Michigan, noted that the measure provided money to extend unemployment benefits. “If we don’t act,” Mr. Levin said, “more than a million people will exhaust their unemployment benefits before the end of the year.”
But Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, said the bill would do little to stimulate the economy. “It’s meant to stimulate the electoral prospects of a couple of hundred members of Congress,” Mr. Flake said.
By a vote of 257 to 166, the House on Friday also passed a separate bill providing tax breaks to encourage the development and use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. The Senate has included similar incentives in a different bill that would also make other changes in the tax code.
It was not immediately clear whether the clean-energy proposals would become law. Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, a champion of alternative fuels, said haggling between the Senate and the House had “already delayed millions of dollars of investment in clean-energy technology.”
The Senate’s bill, which it passed this week, would extend the tax credit for investments in solar energy for eight years, through 2016.
A new study by the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, said the tax credit would increase domestic investment in the solar industry by $232 billion by 2016 and generate 440,000 jobs, many in manufacturing, construction and engineering.
As for the economic stimulus legislation, House and Senate versions alike would not only extend unemployment benefits but also increase food stamp allotments and provide more federal money to states to finance health insurance for low-income people on Medicaid. Representative Frank Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said the measure would “help avert cuts to state Medicaid programs,” so states could meet the medical needs of people who had lost jobs and health benefits provided by employers.
In addition to those provisions, the legislation would provide money for highways, bridges, airports, mass transit, school repairs, water projects and other public works.
In February, Mr. Bush signed a bipartisan bill to revive the economy by sending rebate checks to millions of taxpayers. But Democrats said more was needed because the economy in many parts of the country was still anemic.
On Friday, the Senate voted 52 to 42 for a motion to consider its version of the stimulus bill, which would cost $56 billion. Supporters needed 60 votes.
In threatening a veto, the White House said the bills “will not provide short-term stimulus or long-term growth for the economy.” Instead, the White House said, the bills “would simply increase government spending, including self-perpetuating entitlement spending, by tens of billions of dollars.”
Representative Jerry Lewis of California, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats had not proposed any way to pay for their stimulus bill, and he expressed dismay at the sudden growth in federal commitments.
“In recent days,” Mr. Lewis said, “government has taken steps to bail out the auto industry, to the tune of $25 billion. It has proposed a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to the tune of another $25 billion. It has committed as much as $70 billion to rescue the A.I.G. insurance company. In the last few weeks, this Congress hasn’t found a cause that doesn’t need a handout or a bailout. Where does the spending end?”
Representative Flake said, “This is the most expensive week in the history of the Republic.”
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