Politics | 02/04/2009 10:45 am

Obama to Congress: Don't Sweat the Small Stimulus Stuff

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

President Obama’s growing wary of all the bickering over the controversial economic stimulus package.

"What has happened, and this is what tends to happen in this town, is people have plucked out this program or that program that doesn’t look particularly stimulating, the contraceptives issue being a primary example. If you add all that stuff up, it accounts for less than one percent of the overall package," the president told the CBS Evening News during his big media push for the stimulus bill this week. But there are several indications that Mr. Obama’s prepared to make some concessions.

"We’re focused on the pie, not the crumbs," National Economic Council Director Larry Summer told USA Today. "The president’s prepared to compromise … but our focus is on the fact that the American economy badly needs help." The Senate on Tuesday added $11 billion more so Americans can claim a tax deduction on some new car sales, and even more money for medical research.

Senate Republicans have blasted parts of the bill they don’t think create jobs and are trying to cut $200 billion from it, and some Democrats may side with them. In fact, Politico points out that Rep. Jim Cooper, D-TN, one of the moderate Blue Dogs, suggested the White House encouraged him to defy House leadership and vote against the stimulus with ten other House Democrats.

"I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I’m doing," said Cooper, one of about 55 House Democrats to sign a letter criticizing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, on the way she has handled the $819 billion House package. "They know it’s a messy bill and they wanted a clean bill. Now, I got in terrible trouble with our leadership because they don’t care what’s in the bill, they just want it pass and they want it to be unanimous."

Senate Democratic leaders admit they don’t have the votes to pass the current bill and they know that in order to gain bipartisan support, they will have to cut whatever doesn’t provide an immediate boost to the economy. Well that’s an idea!

And there are still many non-job-creating, non-economic-stimulating programs in the bill that could be cut. The Washington Times notes that even though the Senate removed $475 million designated to fight smoking and sexually transmitted diseases, the money is still there, meaning it could still technically be used to help smokers kick the habit and prevent the spread of STD. Is this stimulating the economy?

It’s clear many in America aren’t even sure if the stimulus as is will help enough. The Arizona Republic wrote an editorial saying Congress should just start over, but a new poll says while a strong majority of Americans (75 percent) want Congress to pass some version of Obama’s stimulus plan, people are split down the middle on whether it should be passed as is or with major changes. Most are skeptical the plan can work fast enough, with only 17 percent saying the plan would improve the economy.

What do you think?

155 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

President Obama’s growing wary of all the bickering over the controversial economic stimulus package. LOL. I bet he is.

By Marjorie C. on 02/04/2009 10:57 am

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“President Obama’s growing wary of all the bickering over the controversial economic stimulus package.”…. did you mean “weary”?

By DeBúrca obj on 02/04/2009 10:57 am

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DeBúrca: …did you mean “weary”? They probably did, but wary works too. This bill is way overloaded and it needs some scrutiny and correction. The Republicans have something worth looking at that little more than half the price tag. Maybe Obama should give it a peek.

By Marjorie C. on 02/04/2009 11:00 am

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I think it was Obama who welcomed everyone to the table for input. It is the spin that is making it look like a big deal that they are having to tweek this bill. How could a bill this important and this big NOT need tweeking?

By DeBúrca obj on 02/04/2009 11:18 am

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DeBúrca: Today’s Rasmussen: Fifty percent (50%) of U.S. voters say the final economic recovery plan that emerges from Congress is at least somewhat likely to make things worse rather than better, but 39% say such an outcome is not likely. … Voters don’t love this bill, and apparently don’t mind if it drags a little bit while being cleaned up.

By Marjorie C. on 02/04/2009 11:40 am

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Do you blame them? Look how the last bail out turned out. Of course people are skeptical. And it doesn’t help that the GOP, instead of working on this with the Democrats, are doing a political media blitz in order to make it look bad. Just like it says in the article here, some of these controversial things are only a PIECE of 1% of the bill, yet you wouldn’t know it by the Republicans in the media. This is too serious to be playing political games.

By DeBúrca obj on 02/04/2009 11:49 am

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I don’t think that is what the GOP is intending to do. There really are things in the package that are not necessary. Let’s take the middle class tax cut for an example. $500 a year averages out to about $41 a month. This does not make for big spending to jump start the economy. It barely covers a tank of gas! So, why do it? 1% is 9 billion dollars. Even a piece of that is worth looking at.

By Sara Langley on 02/04/2009 4:08 pm

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That is only a tiny part of the stimulus plan. Check this out… it is from Move On dot org, so you’ll probably think it’s a Liberal opinion, but it’s an opinion that is valid: FYI: Dear MoveOn member, President Obama’s economic stimulus plan is in trouble. Conservative talking points are dominating the media’s coverage and there’s lots of misinformation around. Here are a few things you may not have heard about it: 1) This is a very, very good bill. As The Nation writes, “If enacted, the economic recovery plan will be one of the biggest and boldest pieces of progressive legislation in the past forty years.”1 Here are some facts about what the bill really does: Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years.2 Averts “literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs”—and doubles funding for the Department of Education.3 Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production.4 Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance.5 Some folks are arguing that it should be bigger, and they’re probably right, but this is the best down payment on economic recovery we have seen, and it needs to be passed. 2) The stuff that’s being singled out for criticism amounts to a tiny fraction of the bill—like anti-smoking programs that make up less than one-ten-thousandth of the spending.6 They would have you believe this is the centerpiece of the bill. It is not. This kind of nit-picking is pure politics. 3) If it doesn’t pass, we’re in deep trouble. Even John McCain’s economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression.7 We all urgently need to get these facts out before the public. Can you write a letter to the editor of your local paper about how the stimulus will affect real people? Our tool makes writing a letter really easy. Click here to get started: http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=100&id=15490-4022922-_H0rgAx&t=3 Last week alone, 100,000 people lost their jobs in this country.8 So we need to make sure the Senate takes action quickly. Nearly 200 economists from across the political spectrum wrote to Congress, agreeing: “We do not have the luxury of a lengthy debate over the best course of action. This legislation may not be enough to solve all the economy’s problems, but it is urgently needed and an important step in the right direction.”9 But with so much rhetoric and demagoguery surrounding the bill, it won’t pass unless we can get the real facts out to a wide audience. And letters to the editor by local MoveOn members are one of the best ways to set the record straight. Our tool makes it super easy. We’ll provide you with talking points to use, some tips on writing your letter, and an easy way to send it in to any newspaper in your area. You can start writing your letter to the editor by clicking here: http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=100&id=15490-4022922-_H0rgAx&t=4 Thanks for all you do.

By DeBúrca obj on 02/04/2009 4:29 pm

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Let’s see, $920 billion dollars, divided by 3 million jobs. That equals $230,000 per job. Makes sense to me. If the states had been taking care of business instead of spending on useless pandering of special interests groups like California, there wouldn’t be teacher layoffs. Tiny fraction? Try over half the total bill is on frivilous pork, not tax cuts or incentives.

By Steve Douglass on 02/04/2009 11:33 pm

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“President Obama’s Stimulus Plan, Here are a few things you may not have heard about it: 1) This is a very, very good bill. As The Nation writes, “If enacted, the economic recovery plan will be one of the biggest and boldest pieces of progressive legislation in the past forty years.” Here are some facts about what the bill really does: Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years. Averts “literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs”—and doubles funding for the Department of Education. Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production. Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance. Some folks are arguing that it should be bigger, and they’re probably right, but this is the best down payment on economic recovery we have seen, and it needs to be passed. 2) The stuff that’s being singled out for criticism amounts to a tiny fraction of the bill—like anti-smoking programs that make up less than one-ten-thousandth of the spending. They would have you believe this is the centerpiece of the bill. It is not. This kind of nit-picking is pure politics. 3) If it doesn’t pass, we’re in deep trouble. Even John McCain’s economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression. Last week alone, 100,000 people lost their jobs in this country. So we need to make sure the Senate takes action quickly. Nearly 200 economists from across the political spectrum wrote to Congress, agreeing: “We do not have the luxury of a lengthy debate over the best course of action. This legislation may not be enough to solve all the economy’s problems, but it is urgently needed and an important step in the right direction.”

By DeBúrca obj on 02/05/2009 12:09 am

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Try a 6 trillion debt left by the boys you obviously subscribe to—how’s that for cowboy econ?

By f p on 02/05/2009 8:08 am

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Steve, you certainly got that right. This is why the stimulus package in its present form will not work. Every day more and more Americans are not buying it. Democrats HAVE to believe in it. After all, they are the ones who put an inexperienced person in the White House. Result: $900 billion in debt and no assurance that it will work.

By deber B on 02/05/2009 9:51 am

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By CLEMENTE LISI Last updated: 12:14 pm February 4, 2009 Posted: 11:17 am February 4, 2009 Looks like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will say anything to get support for President Obama’s $900 billion stimulus package. Pelosi publicly stated that “every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.” Although Pelosi made the absurd claim last month, video of the event where she spoke surfaced over the weekend on YouTube and various right-wing blogs. The United States has a population of 303 million. It isn’t the only time Pelosi has made the bizarre claim. In a Jan. 18 interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Pelosi repeated that 500 million jobs would be lost unless Obama’s stimulus package was passed by Congress. When host Chris Wallace corrected her and asked if she meant 500,000 jobs. “What did I say, million?” asked Pelosi, adding that it “feels like 500 million.” “Some 500,000 Americans will lose their jobs each month until we have a recovery package,” she said. “Yes, Madam Speaker, it feels like almost twice the entire population are losing their jobs each month,” retorted Wallace. In many ways you “my dear” sound as stupid as Nancy Pelosi.

By Lori F. on 02/05/2009 6:13 am

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Lori…great post….

By Libra Lady on 02/05/2009 7:23 am

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Coming from a person who quotes Rush Limbaugh “stupid” isn’t a name you should be calling others. I never voted for Pelosi btw, she’s not from Illinois. But if you want to play the cut and paste game, I can cut and paste Bushisms, McCainisms and Palinisms to my hearts content. And I may have done so before the election. But the election is over. I’m not going to waste my time… go back a few months and read the old posts. Your guy lost thank god, and with or without YOU we are going to try to fix the mess the Republicans left this country in.

By DeBúrca obj on 02/05/2009 9:03 am