Stimulus Pushback

The Senate doesn't want to get rolled by the agreement on a stimulus package in the House. Their ideas are generally solid, on both sides of the aisle.

Shrugging off a personal plea from President Bush, senators from both parties said yesterday that they will push for significant additions to the $150 billion stimulus package hammered out Thursday by House leaders and the administration.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and other administration officials that he will try to add a tax break for corporations that quickly reinvest overseas profits in the United States. None of the officials offered opposition.

Collins said a bipartisan coalition of Northeastern and Midwestern senators will push to secure as much as $800 million in heating assistance for the poor, a provision that House Democratic leaders dropped in favor of securing payments for about 35 million families who earn too little to pay income tax.

Collins said she will push to restore about $12.5 billion in unemployment benefits and $5 billion in food-stamp extensions that House negotiators also eliminated, a call echoed by her fellow Maine Republican, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, who vowed to add funds next week in the Finance Committee. Snowe will be joined by another Republican on the committee, Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.).

"The number of long-term unemployed in this country is dramatically higher than during the last recession, and I hope that Congress will pass a stimulus package that responds to this pressing need for so many Americans," Snowe said.

In a conference call with Finance Committee members yesterday morning, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he hopes to provide checks to low-income retirees, who are left out of the House plan because they cannot show $3,000 in earned income.

Democratic Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.) called yesterday for hundreds of millions of dollars for mortgage counselors, while Republican Govs. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif.) and Charlie Crist (Fla.) pushed for a temporary boost in the share of Medicaid financing assumed by the federal government.

I think this is more about the prerogatives of the Senate, but in general, moves like extending unemployment insurance and adding seniors to tax rebates would circuit money through the economy quickly, and increasing food stamp payments and low-income heating assistance would help those who really need it. They're the most obvious policies to achieve the goals of a stimulus.

Which is why they probably won't be adopted.