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GOP senators block $56 billion economic-aid bill
White House had already promised veto
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AP INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA
Published: September 27, 2008
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans blocked a plan by Democrats yesterday to pump $56 billion in government spending into the economy through public-works projects, help for the jobless and money for states struggling with their Medicaid bills.
The 52-42 vote fell well short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a GOP filibuster.
The White House promised a veto anyway, saying that the bill would not work and would cost too much.
The bill follows a bipartisan plan enacted this winter that shipped $600-$1,200 tax-rebate checks to most individuals and couples and awarded tax breaks to businesses spending on new plant and equipment.
With the economy still sagging, Democrats have long pressed for a follow-up plan that focused on more spending to extend unemployment benefits, increase food-stamp payments and build infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water and sewer projects and school repairs.
The idea got no interest from President Bush or Republicans in Congress, and the practical effect of yesterday's vote would be to add fodder to the fall campaign.
Several Republicans with tough re-election bids broke with their party and voted for the bill, among them Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Norm Coleman of Minnesota.
"Record spending that could lead to record tax increases or higher deficits will not advance our economic recovery," the White House said in a statement.
The House plan seems more focused on spending that would have an immediate effect on job creation, whereas the Senate bill contains a wish list of items long-sought by members of the Appropriations Committee, including money to provide U.S. Capitol police with new radios, accelerate NASA's development of a new space vehicle and move the Department of Homeland Security to a new headquarters.
Democrats say that with the administration insisting on a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street holders of toxic mortgage securities, President Bush should join them in providing federal help to the middle class and the poor.
They referred to studies by economists that say that providing money -- through food stamps and unemployment insurance -- to people likely to spend it immediately has a proven record of helping the economy.
"It injects money into infrastructure projects to create jobs directly and generate new economic activities," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
"We get the biggest buck stimulus-wise ... by expanding food-stamp benefits. That's the best. The second best, extending unemployment benefits."
"Spending billions of taxpayer dollars on programs and projects that will do little, if anything, to stimulate the economy is simply not the way to dig out of our economic troubles," said California Rep. Jerry Lewis, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee.
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