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Obama heads to Capitol Hill

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 5, 2009 07:52 PM

By Joseph Williams, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- As details of his massive economic stimulus plan begin to emerge, President-elect Barack Obama engaged in rare, pre-inaugural lobbying for it on Capitol Hill today, building bipartisan support among lawmakers for a federal spending and tax-relief package that could cost more than $775 billion.

Obama also plans to lay out further details about the plan in a prime-time, nationally-televised address scheduled for Thursday.

But Obama, still 15 days from being sworn in as president, has all but conceded that he will miss his goal of signing a spending bill on his first day in office, a move he hoped would signal urgency in tackling the nation's worst economic crisis in generations.

Though Democrats predict that Obama could get a bill on his desk by February, analysts said that Republicans' calls to scrutinize his plan -- and the inclusion of more than $300 billion in individual and business tax cuts -- could further slow the legislation.

Obama spent his first full day in Washington as president-elect huddling separately one-on-one with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and also meeting with a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers. By afternoon, shortly before meeting with his economic team, Obama warned that any delays in passing a stimulus bill will further damage a badly ailing economy that is getting worse by the day.

"The economy is very sick," said Obama, who said he hoped to sign a bill shortly after his Jan. 20 inauguration. "We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession."

Pelosi and Reid, the top two Democrats, said at a press conference today they intend to do everything they can to meet Obama's expectations. Reid said they told Obama "we would join together and try to move some economic recovery relief to the American people as quickly as possible."

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in the Senate, said he believed that cooperation "was sincere on all sides" and praised Obama for being willing to consider Republican ideas.

McConnell predicted widespread GOP enthusiasm because a significant percentage of the package includes tax relief. "The best way to stimulate the economy obviously is to put money directly in the pockets of taxpayers," he said.

Obama dismissed suggestions that the tax relief he wants for workers and businesses are sweeteners to attract skeptical Republicans concerned about runaway government spending. Though Democrats hold a majority in both houses of Congress, they don't have enough votes to defeat a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

Because it was the bedrock of his economic agenda during the campaign, he said, calling the middle-class tax cuts a political ploy "doesn't make much sense."

Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the House, raised two major remaining GOP concerns: that the bill will be rushed through Congress without adequate time to review it, and that the spending plan will be loaded down with unnecessary federal spending projects, adding trillions to the rapidly ballooning national debt.

"I'm a little concerned myself about the overall size of the package," Boehner said, raising concerns that it would saddle future generations with a burden it will struggle to pay. "While we want to get the economy moving again, the overall size and how we craft this is going to be very important."

Barry Bosworth, an economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said emphasizing tax cuts could make any bill more difficult to push through Congress because tax legislation typically attracts bipartisan wrangling, while the demands to keep the process open and transparent "slows everything down."

While Congress works out the details, "a lot more people are going to be unemployed," Bosworth said.

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In 2001, in the landmark court case Coleman-Adebayo v. Browner, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Obama's choice for "Energy Czar," and the agency she administered, the EPA, were found guilty of race, color, and sex-based discrimination as well as tolerating a hostile work environment. The case provided the impetus for the passage (unanimous in both chambers) of the No FEAR Act (Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation) that was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The law was heralded as the first civil rights law of the 21st century. Study of Coleman-Adebayo v. Browner is now mandated study for all new Federal employees within 90 days of their being hired, and every 2 years for all Federal employees. The extent of the racism and retaliation within Ms. Browner's EPA was so pervasive that Congress and the Executive required study of it as the penultimate example of what was WRONG with government. When asked in Congressional hearings whether she accepted the judgement of the jury, Ms. Browner said she did.

The question for Mr. Obama, is: Given her unrepentant position on the deplorable conditions she oversaw at EPA, how is Carol Browner qualified to hold administrative position again?

The question for Foon Rhee and boston.com is: How can you write a story about Carol Browner without referencing Coleman-Adebayo v. Browner?

Posted by coupeditor January 5, 09 11:41 AM
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Oh dear, this is the same solution which FDR tried in the 1930’s and which most economists say deepened and lengthened the depression. We tried it again in the 1970’s and it did not work that time either. Why did it not work? It did not work because these expenditures took money out of the economy which private investors might have used to build productive jobs, profits, and tax revenues to the federal, state and local governments.

Now, the problem is not putting money in the economy – the problem is confidence. Confidence that families will not suffer from unemployment, that new graduates will find jobs, confidence that they can afford a car, electricity, food, and an affordable home and mortgage.

The financial crises which we are experiencing now have been caused by a know-it-all Congress who forced bad lending practices on the banks, and by incompetent regulatory agencies who did not exercise their duties. Neither branch of Government has made any efforts whatsoever to remove the policy makers who caused this disastrous situation. This is poison to public confidence, and now, the unwise spending of a trillion dollars can fix it? Even though this kind of spending never worked before? We are in real trouble.

And now, the Democrats want to rush this kind spending through without consideration of the risks, without cost/justification, without thinking about alternatives, without consideration of the possibility it might do more harm than good.


Posted by Arthur LEMAY January 5, 09 12:03 PM
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Obama's conservative economic advisers have him halfway there. Keep the tax cuts, and CUT spending, don't raise it.

There is no need to hurry. I am sick of our useless government rushing into panicked action. I want a long, slow, deliberative process.

On a side note: ask Obama about Bill Richardson. I hope his economic proposals are more thoughtful than his appointments.

Oh, and the Browner nomination is an outrage.

Posted by Obama = Corruption January 5, 09 12:41 PM
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The stock market has yet to take account of the Republicans stating that they will be obstructionistic. Obama has a good plan that takes Republican and Democratic ideas in the bill. This needs to be done with some haste. As the Republicans drag their heels the market will move down and brake the old lows. The only question will be if it will start from this level or a higher one. The thing that I am sure of is that Obama has a better understanding of the economic situation than the Republicans do, and most of the Democrats for that matter.

Republicans refuse to acknowledge that they lost and that deficits mattered before the economy cratered and will again when it's back on its feet but not now.

Posted by Ron M January 5, 09 09:09 PM
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Wait a minute, I thought Obama was going to wait until he was in office .. or does that only apply to commenting on Israel?

Posted by zitface January 6, 09 12:27 AM
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