House To Push $500 Billion Stimulus Package For Obama To Sign On Day One

Nancy Pelosi says the House will push for a stimulus package in the range of $500 billion that will be ready for Barack Obama to sign when he is sworn in on January 20th:

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met leading governors on Monday to discuss the size and shape of an economic stimulus package that one Democratic aide said was likely to cost around $500 billion.

The aide, who asked not to be identified, said the legislation would include a middle-class tax cut, billions of dollars for road, bridge and mass transit construction, expanded aid to states and investments in renewable energy.

Speaking to reporters earlier, Pelosi said she hoped the job-creating legislation, which she did not detail, would be ready for President-elect Barack Obama to sign when he takes office on January 20.

The nation's governors are understandably eager for some help:

Facing severe cutbacks in state services as the recession deepens, the nation's governors pressed their case in Congress on Monday, asking for at least $40 billion to help pay for health care for the poor and disabled.

The governors are also pressing for as much as $136 billion worth of infrastructure projects like road and bridge repairs as the Democratic-controlled Congress and President-elect Barack Obama prepare economic recovery legislation that Obama hopes to sign immediately upon taking office.

Obama will meet Tuesday with the governors at a National Governors Association meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Comments

[ggmome]

09:55 AM on 12/02/2008

As long as these 'stimulus comes through the Treasury, there will be no stimulus to the economy or the populace. Any student who owes Student Loans, or anyone who owes taxes, past or present, will not receive payment.

So this is another 'ploy' to enrich non other than our rich Uncle...

[mom2sons]

09:44 AM on 12/02/2008

Send mine direct deposit too. LOL...It's looking bad for the homefront though....­I hope help is on the way.

[isis]

09:37 AM on 12/02/2008

If we hadn't destroyed the Unions and given tax breaks to companies that shipped jobs overseas would people be needing this stimulus package?

[bayviking]

09:01 AM on 12/02/2008

The bi-partisa­n smoke and mirrors behind this bailout/st­imulus is dishonest and counterpro­ductive.

The US cannot pay for its own day to day operations so it borrows from foriegners­.

US financial Institutio­ns have cheated our foriegn lenders who could sue and/or cease lending.

Paulson is bailing out the gambers who lost derivative­s bets and worse fraudmeist­ers who cheated the people we depend on to stay afloat. For this reason, more money ($7.7trill­ion) was wasted than every War beginning with WWII, every hurricane and tsunami, and the entire space program. Otherwise the incompeten­ce and corruption in Washington would be fully exposed through endless civilsuits brought by the cheated foriegners­.

None of the bailout money has been recycled into the economy, and thus has had no effect. Bernanke and Paulson aren't providing any details.On­e real purpose was to prop up Real Estate values on the books of banks and brokers. Just like Greenspan'­s plan to create wealth by growing debt.

But loan defaults constitute only 7% of US mortgages and cannot explain the huge numbers being thrown around with little or no debate. Money is being printed like there's no tommorrow to cover a derivative­s market whose size likely exceeds all tangible assets on the planet. This disaster, whose effect has yet to be fully realized, is the result of reckless deregulati­on by the likes of Phil Gramm, Bill Clinton and others.

So far the only people that are being helped are the scoundrels that created the mess.

[leftLibertarian]

08:13 AM on 12/02/2008

I want my millions dollars sent direct deposit.

[hortonhearsawho]

09:26 AM on 12/02/2008

I'll pick up mine...not a problem.

[morningperson]

07:10 AM on 12/02/2008

I don't know about you, but Pelosi just doesn't stimulate me.

How many lies do they have to feed you before you stop believing them?

http://the­liepoLitic­.com/

[leftLibertarian]

08:14 AM on 12/02/2008

I'd say a lot. Democrats are just as sheepish as Republican­s.

[hortonhearsawho]

09:27 AM on 12/02/2008

So, your a Real man and Sheep, what, Fear you?

[Two Three Four]

03:42 AM on 12/02/2008

The auto industry has survived on minor revisions for the better part of a decade, but America doesn't need a recolored cozy-coupe­, we need a green cozy-coupe­:

http://vot­eforameric­a.net/edit­orials/Com­ments.aspx­?ArticleId­=166&Artic­leName=Rea­dy%2c+Set%­2c+Bailout­%3f

[JadedAggie]

03:32 AM on 12/02/2008

I'm afraid a package that size even managed correctly is likely to small at this point. One of the problems with recessions is that they perpetuate themselves meaning that once they begin to spiral they become significan­tly harder to slow and reverse. Unless they plan on beginning their reform of the health care system immediatel­y they might want to expand this package.

[duze]

03:20 AM on 12/02/2008

What would the stimulus package contain? It's it's just money to catch up with overdue bills, how can that help. If the monies are distribute­d throughout the states, as usual there will be talk about oversight, but nothing really concrete will be put in place. Such as what happen to the persons who were responsibl­e for oversight when it came to Paulson and Bernake. I cannot believe that Congress bought the tall tale they were selling. Anyway we'll wait and see, but by the looks of Obama's recent choices, I wouldn't hold out much improvemen­t. Not with his relationsh­ip with the Queen of Drama pulling him down. Anyone with close alliance to a Clinton always ends up, in a spin.

[Mugzi]

06:49 AM on 12/02/2008

You're right; however, Obama thrives on challenges­. He doesn't want a house of "yes" men/women. he wants discussion probably debates. There's probably nothing he doesn't know about these people...

[deminmo]

01:57 AM on 12/02/2008

Speaker Pelosi, you and all the others need to get your head
around the idea that WE need money too! You peel out billions
for AIG and they go on two junkets, and still pay bonuses. You
give Citicorp money and they spend $10B to buy a Spanish company.
You give Paulson unlimited power over the original bailout and fail
to provide oversight on who gets money.
Now you want $500B! Yea, we need roads and bridges. We also need
health coverage, a way to pay bills when we can't get jobs, a way to
provide for kids so that working at a big box retailer for extra money
won't get us killed!
You sit in Washington offices smug in your power suit, and watch us
and the country go down the tubes. Wish you could sit on this side
of the glass!

[leftLibertarian]

08:15 AM on 12/02/2008

Make my million bucks direct deposit.

[vippy]

09:08 AM on 12/02/2008

While they asked the Auto Execs about their air planes and salaries they did not ask the same
of AIG - what is up with that? Something stinks here.
Pelosi and Reid need a swift kick in the rear and out the door. We need jobs back in the USA,
now that would be a stimulus, nothing else will work.

[speakyourmind]

01:56 AM on 12/02/2008

What is going on at HuffPo? It's spelled REPRESENTA­TIVES. If news blogs want to be taken seriously, PLEASE HIRE A SPELL CHECKER WHO KNOWS HOW TO SPELL.

[d00derman]

01:12 AM on 12/02/2008

Pelosi looks great in that burgundy dress. I'd be going to grandmothe­r's house all the time with some champagne, caviar, gogurt.

[dizmo4]

01:09 AM on 12/02/2008

$500bn is not nearly enough.

The amount of spending required to get this country out of the hole its in, is probably going to be around $2 trillion over the next four years.

Would be nice to get the $1 trillion allocated sooner rather than later.

none of that $2 trillion includes middle class tax cuts ( which actually are a good idea). If done properly with reduction in spending during a second term, the country could actually begin having surpluses rather quickly. The question is whether Congress will go along with a rather radical albeit necessary agenda or if Republican­s will some how discover fiscal discipline just in time to derail the last chance the country h as.

[leftLibertarian]

08:16 AM on 12/02/2008

sorry 2 trillion isn't enough. Get out the printing presses out and make it 234 trillion dollars. Give every person in the world 23 million dollars.

[bigfro]

08:32 AM on 12/02/2008

Really we should give the pensions to Gm and laet our old folks starve. After all they didn't earn the pension, Oh wait they did earn it.

I guess you'll have to give up your career as a wise@ss and move on to displacing old people to buy more stock.

[ModeratePoliticalJunkie]

12:49 AM on 12/02/2008

We have to start using LNG\CNG from Alaska. As much as I despise Sarah Palin I have to admit she is right about tapping the vast resources in Alaska.

[ReasoNseeKer]

11:59 PM on 12/01/2008

Why not just give every citizen a million dollars? We have plenty of trees and ink.

[hilary916]

02:02 AM on 12/02/2008

That would be soooooo nice.