A House Republican leader says the GOP is seeking a meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss concerns the minority party in Congress has with parts of $825 billion economic recovery program.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said Republicans want to cooperate with the new administration, but that many facets of the stimulus program being pushed by majority Democrats would not create jobs.
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Cantor, interviewed on CBS’s “The Early Show” Thursday, said that on the Hill, “there’s a lot of discussion about ramping up more government spending” and that Republicans are concerned about that.
Cantor said Republicans worry that much of the plan that Democrats are pushing “does not stimulate the economy.” He singled out a provision for weatherizing poor people’s homes, causing it a worthy goal but saying it does nothing to create new jobs.
President Barack Obama’s plan to award a $500 tax credit to most workers is expected to advance through a key House panel as Democrats prepare his $825 billion economic recovery plan for a floor vote next week.
Plans to extend and boost unemployment benefits, give states $87 billion to deal with Medicaid shortfalls and help unemployed people retain health care will also advance. Republicans are turning against Obama’s economic stimulus program, despite promises by both Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans to work together.
On Wednesday night, a key piece of Obama’s recovery program advanced through the House Appropriations Committee on a 35-22 party-line vote. The sweeping $358 billion spending measure blends traditional public works programs such as road and bridge construction and water and sewer projects with new ideas such as upgrading the nation’s electricity grid and investments in health care information technology systems.
The measure contains temporary spending increases for dozens of programs across the federal government. There’s money to weatherize poor people’s homes, boost spending for community health centers, relieve a backlog of construction projects at national parks, and purchase buses for local mass transit agencies, just for starters.
“This package is no silver bullet,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., cautioned. “What it is aimed at is staving off the worst aspects of this recession. … I don’t know, frankly, if it will be adequate.”
The sprawling spending measure came under attack from panel Republicans, who said it would flood federal agencies such as the Energy Department with money they can’t spend efficiently. They also questioned whether many of the other items in the bill would create jobs, such as $650 million to help people who get their television signals from local broadcast stations adapt to the conversion to digital signals.
White House budget chief Peter Orszag responded to criticisms stemming from a Congressional Budget Office analysis that the measure would not inject much infrastructure spending into the economy in the next several months. Orszag, who resigned from CBO the join the administration, said $3 of every $4 in the package should be spent within 18 months to have maximum impact on jobs and taxpayers.
