Senate Republicans kill $56 billion stimulus bill
Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2008
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a $ 56 billion plan Democrats said would stimulate the economy by expanding unemployment assistance, food stamps, highway and other infrastructure spending and aid to state governments.
Democrats said that as lawmakers consider a $ 700 billion rescue plan for financial companies, they should also provide aid to “Main Street” Americans. The measure, which needed 60 votes to advance, was killed 52-42 on a procedural vote. The U. S. House approved Friday a similar plan 264-158.
Sens. Mark P ryor and Blanche Lincoln, both Democrats from Arkansas, voted for the bill. Arkansas’ Reps. Mike Ross and Vic Snyder, both Democrats, voted for the House measure. Reps. Marion Berry, D-Ark., and John Boozman, R.-Ark., voted against it.
“The economic crisis has spilled over into our communities,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The measure would have created “jobs at a time when millions of workers have been laid off,” she said. Said West Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd: “If we’re going to bail out Wall Street, we also need to help Main Street.”
Republicans in both chambers contended the plans were unaffordable and included initiatives that would do little to stimulate the economy. “In the last few weeks, this Congress hasn’t found a cause that doesn’t need a handout or a bailout,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.
The Bush administration threatened to veto either bill, saying both would “simply increase government spending” without providing an “efficient vehicle for job creation.” The highway projects would take too long to implement to create many jobs in the “near” future while unemployment benefits should be “temporary in nature to encourage a return to work,” the administration said.
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