Steve calls out the wrongheaded argument that spending $75 million on FBI salaries is not economic stimulus. We can go a step further: Everything on the Republican list of “wasteful projects” is stimulative. $88 million for a new Coast Guard icebreaker? Someone is getting paid to build the ship. $248 million for new furniture at DHS headquarters? Someone has to build the furniture. Even the $400 million for the CDC’s STD prevention programs has an effect on the economy, because someone — whether feds or contractors — is getting paid to administer those programs. You can argue that these aren’t…
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House Republicans yesterday unveiled a list of spending items in the stimulus bill that they called wasteful. One item in particular jumped out at me: “$75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.” Gregg Carlstrom last week highlighted Republican reluctance to pay for new cars for federal employees, but Republicans have also criticized many more line items affecting feds. Even though the construction industry is facing its own hardships in the economy, the GOP feels that building, renovating or repairing facilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Homeland Security Department, State Department and Public…
Senate Republican leaders addressed Tom Daschle’s stepping down as HHS secretary-nominee, with Sen. John Ensign saying Daschle’s nomination had “serious problems.” Ensign, R-Nev., also decried Daschle’s health-care policy work with Alston & Bird, a Washington, D.C.-based law and lobbying firm. Previously, President Barack Obama pledged that lobbyists would not be allowed to have roles in the administration related to areas where they had lobbied. I don’t know how you can get paid $2 million by a lobbying firm and not call yourself a lobbyist.” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appeared annoyed by reporters’ repeated inquiries about Daschle, trying to bring…
On ABC World News last night, reporter Jonathan Karl said this about the stimulus package: But Republicans say the bill is filled with old-fashioned big-government spending that won’t stimulate the economy. For example, $335 million for sexually transmitted disease prevention, $600 million to buy new cars for government employees, and $1 billion to follow up on the 2010 Census, which, of course, hasn’t happened yet. You can argue that $1 billion for the 2010 Census isn’t stimulative. We’ll buy that. But do some Congressmen really believe spending $600 million to upgrade the federal fleet (read: buying new cars) won’t help…
The House voted 244-188 Wednesday evening to pass the economic stimulus package, setting up a Senate vote in the coming days. The $819 billion bill, HR 1, includes $523 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts, which Democrats said will spur economic growth and create American jobs. The House approved six amendments to the bill, several of which affect federal employees: The bill now includes a provision strengthening whistleblower protections for federal employees, which had been missing from the original bill. The bill specified protections for state and local workers but did not mention federal employees. The whistleblower…
House Minority Leader John Boehner says good riddance to $200 million in funds for the National Mall initally included in the House economic stimulus bill. That provision was cut during the House Rules Committee meeting yesterday, as was millions for contraceptives for low-income families. During a pen-and-pad session with reporters Wednesday morning, he said the ax needs to be taken to many more initiatives. “That’s two steps in the right direction, but there’s still hundreds of millions in wasteful spending.” Other projects he singled out as wasteful included $400 million for NASA to study climate change and about $650 million…
One controversial provision in the House economic stimulus package is already dead: $200 million for the National Mall. National Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson told Federal Times’ Gregg Carlstrom the money would have been used to shore up the Tidal Basin wall near the Jefferson Memorial, which is sinking into the Basin. But that won’t happen right now. The House Rules Committee met Tuesday evening to set rules for floor debate for HR 1, the stimulus package, and adopted the following provision: “4. strikes funding for the National Mall Revitalization Fund.” The rule is self-executing, which means it will automatically…
The House just kicked off three and a half hours of debate on an $825 billion economic stimulus package. House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wis., said the current economic situation may be the close to what then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced when he created the New Deal. Obey, who has been cautious about the impact of the stimulus, again said $825 billion may not be enough. None of us can be sure of the success that will flow from this.” He added that Congress must take measures to keep families from losing their homes, adding that more intervention in…
We’ll have a longer story about federal modernization projects in the stimulus package in Monday’s issue of Federal Times. A quick preview, though, because I want to address the misinformation floating around about the $200 million earmarked for the National Mall. Â The Tidal Basin and the structurally unsound wall near the memorial. (Courtesy ktylerconk via Flickr) The House version of the stimulus includes about $2 billion for national parks, and yes, $200 million is for the Mall. But that money isn’t all for new grass on the Mall, as some critics are suggesting. That’s a ridiculous sum (even by…
Senate appropriators voted 21-9 along party lines today to send the proposed economic stimulus bill to the Senate floor, setting it up for a possible vote by the end of the week. Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, entertained little discussion on amendments, telling senators to propose their amendments once the bill reaches the Senate floor. Most of the Republicans voting yes on the $365 billion proposal said they did so only to further debate and adhere to committee rules, not to endorse the components of the stimulus. Only Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted without adding an explanation to her…