GOP senators draft $713B stimulus alternative
Ξ February 3rd, 2009 | → | ∇ Uncategorized |
(CNN) — A group of Republican senators drafted an alternative stimulus measure that narrows government spending to infrastructure programs and helping unemployed Americans, addresses the housing crisis and relies mostly on tax cuts.
Sen. Mel Martinez has been working with GOP senators on an alternative to the current stimulus plan.
The $713 billion plan was put together by Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, who has been working with a handful of other GOP senators.
The proposal includes $430 billion in tax cuts, $114 billion for infrastructure projects, $138 billion for extending unemployment insurance, food stamps and other provisions to help those in need and $31 billion to address the housing crisis.
The draft Martinez put together is a broader approach than what some GOP leaders have suggested.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans appear to want to limit the stimulus to tax cuts and addressing the housing crisis.
But the draft is more narrow than the Democrats’ plan because it eliminates spending on government programs that Republicans and some Democrats say shouldn’t be in the bill because they don’t create jobs.
Martinez has just started showing the plan to his colleagues, and it is too early to tell how much traction this idea will get among other lawmakers.
McConnell on Monday dismissed the idea that Republicans are trying to block passage of the economic stimulus plan.
"Nobody that I know of is trying to keep a package from passing," he said at a news conference Monday. "We’re trying to reform it."
The House last week passed an $819 billion stimulus bill without a single Republican vote, despite Obama’s efforts to work with both sides of the aisle.
The House version is two-thirds spending and one-third tax cuts.
Of concern for Republicans has been how much of the money will be spent in the near future. An analysis released Monday by the Congressional Budget Office estimated the stimulus plan before the Senate would use 78 percent of the proposed funding (including the lost revenue from tax cuts) by the end of fiscal year 2010. Sixty-four percent of the House bill would be put to use during the same period, according to the report.
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Much of the $550 billion in spending is divided among these areas: $142 billion for education, $111 billion for health care, $90 billion for infrastructure, $72 billion for aid and benefits, $54 billion for energy, $16 billion for science and technology and $13 billion for housing.
Republicans have blasted numerous measures in the package, such as funding for
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