Obama To Push Another Stimulus Plan

Bear Market

Today in Washington,D.C. - Aug. 18, 2011
ARRA News has not been doing "Today in Washington, D.C. while Congress is in recess. After this interim report, we may not give a Today in Washington report until Congress returns. However, individual reports on issues will continue.

Again, Congress is still in recess until Tuesday, Sept. 6th. To keep President Obama from appointing un-confirmed people to government positions, Congress is still holding pro forma sessions. The remaining sessions are on Aug 19, 23rd, 26th, 30th, and September 2nd.

In an article headlined “Obama to push stimulus plan” in the print edition, The Washington Post writes today, “President Obama has decided to press Congress for a new round of stimulus spending and tax cuts as he seeks to address the great domestic policy quandary of his tenure: how to spur job growth in an age of austerity. Obama will lay out a series of ideas in a major address right after Labor Day, when he and a largely antagonistic Congress will return from vacation, the White House said Wednesday. . . . Obama also plans to announce a major push for new deficit reduction, urging the special congressional committee formed in the debt-ceiling deal this month to identify even more savings than the $1.5 trillion it has been tasked with finding. In packaging the two, he will make the case that short-term spending can lead to long-term savings. . . . He did not reveal details. But his remarks and additional comments from advisers and others familiar with the White House’s planning suggest that he will pressure Republican lawmakers this fall to back off their objections to additional spending in the short term. Many Democrats have expressed frustration that the White House allowed Republicans during the debt-ceiling negotiations to focus solely on deficit reduction while not pushing harder for steps that would energize the economy.”

So the headline has it right: the president wants another stimulus plan. In other words, more of the same.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell noted yesterday that what’s needed is not more of the same, but for Washington to stop doing what it’s been doing: “The President called on Americans to communicate with their representatives in Congress. But what I’m hearing back home in Kentucky is the very real concern people have about jobs and the economy. Things actually have gotten worse since the President came to office and we need to move in a different direction. While I don’t agree with the President that job-killing tax increases in the middle of this serious, there are actions we can take now. The first is that Washington needs to quit doing what it’s been doing under this administration: Quit borrowing. Quit spending. Quit trying to raise taxes. Quit over-regulating. Washington should let the private sector flourish so we have a chance again to have a growing economy.”

McConnell again called on President Obama to submit the free trade agreements that he still has sitting on his desk (even while he tells Congress they need to pass them). “One very big thing the administration could do in that direction is get those trade agreements up here. They enjoy bipartisan support. They will create jobs in America, for Americans.”

Responding to the reports on the president’s plans, McConnell said, “The President has finally come around to the conclusion that reducing the deficit will help turn around the economy. But continuing the spending spree on failed stimulus programs won’t shrink the deficit.”

Americans’ approval of President Obama’s handling of the economy hit a new low yesterday. According to polling company Gallup, 71 percent of adults disapprove of the president’s economic performance. Just over a quarter of respondents said they were happy with his economic record. Obviously, the Stock Market is showing that investors are not happy with the actions of the Obama Administration and Obama's failed leadership. The Market has been down for several days and is expected to fall as low as 500 points today. We all be watching this "bear market" closely.

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