Hearing tomorrow in Senate Finance Comm on the Jobs Bill

[TayTay]

Open Executive Session to consider the nomination of Timothy F. Geithner to be Secretary of the Treasury

January 22 , 2009 , at 10 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Member Statements:
Max Baucus, MT
Charles Grassley, IA

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing012209.htm



Should be interesting.

[TayTay]

1. link for webcast of this

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearings.htm

This should be a very interesting hearing.

Democratic members of Senate Finance:
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
BILL NELSON, FL
ROBERT MENENDEZ, NJ
THOMAS CARPER, DE

Republican members of Senate Finance:
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
MIKE ENZI, WY
JOHN CORNYN, TX

[karynnj]

2. Site now lists it as at 10:30

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearings.htm

[karynnj]

3. Baucus read his statement

Now Grassley is speaking complaining that the Democrats have an agreement to vote down all Republican amendments, leading to a bill that House and Senate Democrats wrote. He is saying that this bill will leave little room for anything else.

-He says that there already is a built in lower income stimulus - food stamps, unemployment insurance etc that naturally increase in bad times.

-He spoke against money to the states saying they are in trouble because they didn't balance their budgets.

He wants a bigger broad based tax cut, for both wage and capital income. He wants to avoid the AMT stealing the relief.

Spending - his criterion
1) Will it stimulate the economy
2) Is it money spent well
He also said it should be timely, targeted and temporary.

He used the medical technology stuff and said though it might be good - it doesn't meet his criterion above.

Trade should be in the package. International trade worldwide went down. He questioned if this is like pre Great Depression - mentioned pending trade agreements - Panama etc that should be passed immediately.

[karynnj]

4. Snowe is clearly on our side

She defended the medical technology stuff as creating new, innovative good jobs. She also explained how medicare increases.

Two fer - Stimulation and Transformation of the economy

Conrad denied any agreement to vote down Republican amendments - and he pointed out that there are several that are bipartisan.

[TayTay]

5. Yes she is and that is vitally important

IT is the potential 60th vote.

Did you see the small biz stuff that was requested yesterday:

Kerry Pushes to Include Key Provisions in Economic Recovery Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D – Mass.), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, is urging his colleagues to support several key provisions to aid struggling families and businesses as the Committee prepares to mark up the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 tomorrow.

“Putting America back to work and fixing our economy is job number one,” said Senator John Kerry. “Families are struggling to make ends meet while businesses can’t access credit, leading to declines in job creation and innovation. I look forward to working with Chairman Baucus and the members of the Finance Committee to come up with the best plan to get our economy up and running.”

Kerry authored or previously introduced the following provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

• Two reforms to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that will decrease the penalty for married couples and increase the tax credit for families with three or more children.
  
• A provision to exempt private activity bonds from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) based on S. 138, legislation authored by Kerry.
  
• Kerry’s “Invest in Small Business Act,” which increases the 50 percent capital gains exclusion to 75 percent for investment in small businesses.
  
• Kerry played an integral role in the inclusion of energy tax provision increases to include a long term extension of provisions that benefit renewable energy projects and promote conservation.
  
• An education tax credit similar to the credit in Senator Kerry's “College Opportunity Tax Credit Act of 2009,” which helps students and parents afford all four years of college. The provision would create a $2,500 higher education tax credit that is available for the first four years of college.
  
• A provision introduced by Senators Kerry and Snowe (R – ME) to expand the Industrial Development Bond (IDB) program to high-technology and biotechnology uses. The small-issue IDB program has given state and local governments a low-cost source of financing to create and retain jobs in manufacturing plants.
  
• A plan introduced by Senators Kerry and Schumer (D – N.Y.) to provide $730 million to stimulate lending to small businesses.
  

[karynnj]

6. Thanks - no, I hadn't seen this

nice

[karynnj]

7. Kerry up now

Vital that we respond to reality of what is happening to our fellow citizens. Says we need to fix the safety net, help people survive day to day.

Spoke of the effectiveness of the earned income credit - he and Rockefeller have worked on this in the past and have 2 provisions in the bill - remove marriage penalty and help bigger than 3 kids families.

Helping states on covering people on medicare - as people lose their jobs, they lose health insurance - this destroys state budgets. Helps on unemployment insurance - includes a modernization piece.

General comments - (Conrad and Kerry wrote WSJ op-ed) Says that we need to deal with insolvent banks - it will cost more in the long run if we don't. Need comprehensiveness. There is a credit card crunch and a commercial real estate cruch. Need to join in a bipartisan way.

[TayTay]

8. WSJ article that Sens. Kerry and Conrad wrote

is available here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123292942357513957.html

Congress Needs to Help the Economy Fast
Let's not debate another rescue bill in a few months.

By JOHN KERRY and KENT CONRAD

The historic inauguration of President Barack Obama went a long way toward renewing American hopes for a better future. But our nation's economy remains on shaky ground. We must act immediately to solidify our economy by addressing weaknesses in our financial and housing industries, while at the same time kick-starting job creation with our national economic stimulus plan.

Our country faces an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression. The housing collapse caused a crisis in our financial institutions, triggering a broader economic slide that is eliminating jobs, shredding retirement accounts, and wiping out household wealth at a breathtaking pace.

In response to this crisis, President Obama has correctly called for an economic recovery package focused on job creation and short-term growth while boosting productivity in the long term. But a stimulus package by itself is not enough. If we are going to cure our economy, we need to address all these issues at once. We need a comprehensive, coordinated plan that ensures we have all the resources needed. We want to ensure we get this right now, so that we don't have to debate another Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bill in a few months.

The challenge we face is clear. The credit crisis persists. We are living in a pervasive asset bubble. What our banks have been doing is defying the gravity of the marketplace by keeping assets artificially high. But no one can defy gravity -- at least not over the long term. And the results are already apparent: Despite massive intervention by the federal government, the foreclosure crisis is worsening, credit markets remain in a deep freeze, and unemployment is soaring.

More at the link

[TayTay]

15. Medicaid spending

Site with more Medicaid spending stats than any sane person can read in one sitting:
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=616&cat=4&sub=47&yr=1&typ=4&o=a&sort=1229

This goes to Sen. Kerry's point that the States need help NOW with Medicaid funding. It is a vital spending need that has to be addressed. The States are in deep, deep trouble on this.

[karynnj]

9. Wyden

speaking of the energy credit

speaking of the need to do the medical technology thing - and make paper medical records as outdated as the typewriter.

Need to fix COBRA, the only gov't program named after a poisonous snake.

[karynnj]

10. Schumer

We need to:
- get the economy working - we are in deep recession and need to avoid a depression. Greater risk in doing too little.

- need jobs

- Should improve technology, infrastructure so we have things to show for it.

[karynnj]

11. Menendez

Great Depression shows risk of acting too timidly. He is offering a patch for the AMT.

[TayTay]

12. Which is a very good idea.

I think there will be a lot of support for this.

So far, there are a number of Repubs who are voicing the standard Repub line that we can't stimulate the economy by helping those in trouble. That would be wrong, according to these folks. We have to cut taxes on the rich again.

Honestly, when is the smack-down coming on these people? These are exactly the same policies that got us into this mess.

More rant on edit: Honestly, wasn't it Lord Cheney who once said deficit don't matter? Guess that is only when Repubs give big unaffordable tax cuts to millionaires. It was hard to listen to this today. There was Sen. Enzi who once railed on the Senate floor against minimum service mandates on the Senate floor. He was against mandatory payments for things like mammagrams. He said that in his state people give mammogram gift certificates for Mother's Day. Shouldn't that be the basis of our health care -- gift certificates? Ack!

[YvonneCa]

13. I hope the 'smack down on these guys'...

...comes soon. Good Morning, guys! :7

[TayTay]

14. Good morning Yvonne

You missed the comedy stylings of Sen Jim Bunning from KY. He is scared stiff that poor people might engage in fraud to get that tax cut money. That truly is a threat to the Republic. (Ah, nothing about the abuse of the tax system by the very rich, but God forbid someone on a low income commits, heavens, fraud.)

Oh, and we need to use more coal.

Good night, be sure to tip your waitresses!

[YvonneCa]

16. I actually saw the replay of it...

...on C-Span. Bunning was awful. I guess we have a few more 'Roadblock Republicans' to go... :7

[karynnj]

17. You wonder if he has an inkling of how little sense he makes at times

It is surprising that the Republicans ever put him on that committee.

[YvonneCa]

18. He's coming at these issues from a completely...

...different perspective. I know...I have family in his state. :)