In the first major test of President Barack Obama’s ability to push his ambitious agenda through Congress, the House on Wednesday approved the largest attempt since World War II to use the federal budget to redirect the course of the nation’s economy.
Obama had worked hard for bipartisan support for the $819 billion stimulus package, beginning to negotiate possible compromises with Republicans even before entering the White House, but the measure passed the House on a strict party-line vote, 244-188. Not a single Republican supported the bill, and only 11 out of 255 Democrats opposed it.
The real test, however, is whether the bill will help halt what has threatened to become an economic death spiral. And the answer to that question will come not in Washington but in cities, neighborhoods and rural areas across the country as the bill’s impact becomes clear among workers, employers, and state and local governments.
Despite the partisan outcome, the president praised the House action and urged quick action in the Senate. “What we can’t do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way,” Obama said. “We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do.”
With Obama and Democratic leaders intent on enacting the measure by mid-February, the Senate is expected to vote next week on its version of the bill — broadly similar to the House bill but more expensive. A House-Senate conference will resolve differences, and Democratic leaders have pledged to have a final bill for the White House before the Presidents’ Day recess, or to keep members in session until they act.
“We don’t have a moment to spare,” Obama said before the House vote.
Though solidly unified on the final vote, even some Democrats worried that the bill — drafted quickly by House Democrats working with Obama’s aides and approved eight days after his inauguration — might not achieve its enormous goals.
And some — especially fiscal conservatives and freshmen — squirmed at having to approve so much deficit spending to attack a problem they blame on former President George W. Bush and the GOP.
What carried the day for these Democrats was heavy political pressure to take some bold action to alleviate the anxiety and misfortune their constituents face.
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“There are a million reasons to vote against it, but the problem is there are a million and one reasons to vote for it,” said one freshman House Democrat who asked not to be named so he could speak candidly about his ambivalence.
For their part, Republicans showed remarkable unanimity. On major economic issues, typically a few moderate Republicans stray from the party line. This time, they seemed to be concerned chiefly with re-establishing their bona fides as fiscal conservatives, deriding excessive government spending while returning to their pro-tax-cut credo.
“Most House Republicans will oppose this bill tonight for one reason: It won’t work,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). Republicans unsuccessfully proposed an alternative that focused only on cutting taxes.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) dismissed their stance as a “tired old Republican formula.”
The bill contains an almost bewildering array of provisions, many of them funded at all but unprecedented levels.
For the millions of Americans who are losing their jobs and feeling the impact of the economic crisis most directly, the measure would provide at least $86 billion for expansion of the social safety net — including large subsidies for private health insurance, expanded access to Medicaid and more extensive jobless benefits.
The size of the bill remained in flux almost until the final vote because of official re-estimates and a last-minute addition of $3 billion for mass transit.
Congress is moving with unusual dispatch at a time when the economy is shedding jobs at an astonishing pace. About 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, and another 2 million will be lost in the next six months.
About $275 billion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals, including credits of up to $500 for single workers and $1,000 for couples, are included in the bill. And it would prime the economic pump with $544 billion in direct spending, including aid to fiscally beleaguered states, subsidies for education and energy innovation, and funding for highway construction and other job-creating infrastructure projects.
The impact of these provisions would not be felt for some time — not until taxpayers and businesses calculate their tax bills or until public works projects get up and running.
But for unemployed workers, the measure includes benefits that would be implemented almost immediately.
They include little-noticed provisions that would greatly expand access to health care for the unemployed, who usually lose their insurance coverage when they are laid off — measures that Republican critics viewed as a Trojan horse for Democrats’ hopes of expanding the federal role in health care.
“Things that should be debated in the context of health-care reform are being rushed through in this stimulus bill,” said Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), an obstetrician.
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What’s in the bill
The economic recovery plan passed by the House on Wednesday includes these provisions:
TAXES
$145 billion
in tax cuts for workers, which translates to $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple for two years. Workers could expect to see about $20 a week less withheld from their paychecks starting in June.
$18.3 billion
to allow greater access to the $1,000 per-child tax credit for the working poor through 2010.
$10.3 billion
to provide a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and related expenses through 2010 for couples. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000.
$4.7 billion
to increase the earned-income tax credit — which provides money for the working poor — for families with at least three children.
HEALTH CARE
$40 billion
to subsidize health insurance for the unemployed under COBRA or provide health care through Medicaid.
$87 billion
to help states with Medicaid.
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AID TO THE POOR
AND UNEMPLOYED
$43 billion
to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, increase them by $25 a week and provide job training.
$20 billion
to increase food stamp benefits by 13 percent.
$1 billion
in home heating subsidies.
HOUSING
$13 billion
to repair and make more energy-efficient public housing projects, allow communities to buy and repair foreclosed homes, and help the homeless.
SOURCE: Associated Press
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