President Barack Obama listened to a question at a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind., on Monday.
President Obama took his case for an $800 billion economic recovery package to one of the most distressed places in America on Monday as he opened a series of campaign-style events intended to press Congress to approve the plan by week’s end.
Wrapping himself in the mandate of his election last November, Mr. Obama sounded like a candidate all over again, scolding greedy Wall Street bankers and pointedly rejecting Republican critics for sticking with what he called a failed philosophy. At one point, he spoke about people with as many as five homes, which sounded like a reference to his opponent last fall, Senator John McCain.
“We can’t wait and see and hope for the best,” Mr. Obama told a packed high school gymnasium that sounded like an election rally. “We can’t posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us into this mess in the first place. That was what this election was all about. The American people rejected those ideas because they hadn’t worked. You didn’t send us to Washington because you were hoping for more of the same. You sent us there to change things.”
Mr. Obama used the event to hammer home what he called the benefits of his program of spending and tax breaks, promising that it would create or save nearly 80,000 jobs in Indiana, give 2.5 million state residents a $500 tax credit and provide health care, unemployment benefits and job training for tens of thousands more. Bringing it down to the most local level, he suggested his plan would help rebuild U.S. Highway 31 and build an overpass in Elkhart. read more
He was one of Barack Obama's earliest and most loyal supporters during the presidential campaign -- a former Senate majority leader, a major power in Washington, throwing his support behind a little-known, unlikely candidate for president all the way back in February of 2008.
But South Dakota's Tom Daschle did his candidate no favor when he neglected to tell President Obama's staff during their vetting process to nominate him as secretary of Health and Human Services that, oh, by the way, I neglected to pay, like, $146,000 in taxes. The back taxes included those on a luxury car and driver provided by Democratic businessman and Silicon Valley favorite Leo Hindery Jr.
Later today, Daschle faces what could be a grilling from his former colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee. In a letter to the committee he released this morning, Daschle said:
I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns.... I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them.
The administration too is embarrassed that two of its top-level nominees -- Daschle and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- have confessed to failing to pay taxes. Especially in Daschle's case, when the taxes that were omitted turn out to be for use of a limousine and driver, leading critics on Fox News Sunday to suggest that Daschle is a limousine liberal who failed to pay his limousine taxes.
But Obama, asked today if he still backed the embattled Daschle, told reporters, "Absolutely."
Insiders doubt that any of this will derail the nomination. Daschle has stored up a lot of goodwill during his years on Capitol Hill. And Obama is riding the crest of a honeymoon of public support. Still, as Arizona Republican Jon Kyl said the other day, "I just wonder if President Bush had nominated these people, what folks would be saying about that."
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U.S. President Barack Obama said he expects more banks to fail before the troubled U.S. financial system stabilizes.
In a television interview with NBC-TV broadcast Monday, Mr. Obama said it is likely that banks have not acknowledged all the losses they will experience. He said some banks, in his words, "won't make it."
The president also said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to set clear guidelines for financial institutions that receive assistance from the federal government. Last week, Mr. Obama criticized companies that paid big bonuses to their executives while they were asking for federal aid.
The president also is continuing to urge lawmakers to pass an economic stimulus bill designed to create jobs. The Senate Monday begins debate on the measure, which calls for about $820 billion in new spending and tax cuts.
A version of the bill was approved in the House of Representatives last week, without a single Republican voting for it.
Republicans also have warned that they will not vote for the Senate version unless it is revised to include more tax cuts and changes to how the money is spent.
The U.S. economy - the world's biggest - is in a recession. The country lost 2.6 million jobs last year and already has seen tens of thousands more layoffs this year.
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Obama stimulus plan faces changes in Senate
A top Republican called for more mortgage relief and additional tax cuts in President Barack Obama's massive economic stimulus package as Democrats conceded privately they will drop items that have drawn bipartisan criticism.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Monday that "a stimulus bill must fix the main problem first, and that's housing." He promised that Republicans would offer a plan to have the government step in to reduce mortgage rates to the 4 percent range, which could shore up home prices and lower housing payments for millions of Americans.
At the same time, two questionable items in the plan — $75 million for smoking cessation programs and $400 million to slow the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases — have already been dropped from the most recent draft of the measure.
The Senate planned to begin debate on the legislation Monday and the process was likely to stretch into next week.
Democrats were prepared to offer amendments to add $20-$30 billion more for infrastructure programs such as roads, bridges, mass transit and water projects, according to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Schumer also said Democrats would support a GOP-backed idea to double a home buyers tax credit from $7,500 to $15,000 and make it available to all home buyers instead of those purchasing their first home.
The bill is a major test for Obama and Democrats controlling the Senate. There's unrest among Democrats such as Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who have expressed concern that many of the items in the sprawling measure won't do much to stimulate the economy.
The price tag is already approaching $900 billion — and it's likely to grow during Senate debate.
The Senate measure is broadly similar to an $819 billion plan that passed the House last week. It contains almost $350 billion in tax cuts, including a two-year temporary $500-per-worker or $1,000-per-couple tax cut. There's also a $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
For businesses, there's a plan to infuse cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits, as well as incentives for investments in new plants and equipment.
The bill also contains extensive public spending: An extension and temporary increase in unemployment benefits; about $87 billion to help states with Medicaid bills; and aid to schools.
Infrastructure projects would also get a boost under the Senate plan, including $27 billion for road and bridge construction and repair, $20 billion to repair and renovate school and university buildings, and $9 billion for improved access to broadband.
The Senate plan also contains an approximately $70 billion provision to ensure that 24 million tax filers won't get trapped by the alternative minimum tax. The AMT was designed four decades ago to make sure wealthy taxpayers pay at least some tax, but it never was adjusted for inflation and therefore threatens to trap millions of people for whom it was never designed.
The White House and some Democrats had resisted the AMT provision, arguing that it wouldn't do much to boost the economy since Congress was virtually certain to address the issue later anyway.
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