An end to fiscal stimulus? [View All]

[Beacool]

The focus in Washington has turned to reducing the deficit, and states with high unemployment can't count on support from other states for job-creation measures.

By Doyle McManus
June 24, 2010

When the Senate voted last week on whether its latest jobs bill would move forward, one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, broke ranks and stood with Republicans to block the measure from getting a final vote.

"I've got bailout fatigue," Nelson explained. " Washington needs to put a plug in deficit spending."

A bill to extend unemployment insurance and save teachers' jobs shouldn't be this hard to pass. But this one started as a $140-billion stimulus package, was whittled down last week to $118 billion and is now headed below $100 billion. It seems likely that unemployment benefits will be extended again, but with $25 cut from every monthly unemployment check — a measure that would save the federal government $6 billion.

A tide has turned on Capitol Hill. A Democratic Congress that once passed a $787-billion stimulus bill, the largest in history, is now haggling over $25 to struggling families. The recovery is tepid — with unemployment stuck at almost 10% nationwide and much higher in some places ( California is at 12.4% and Nevada at 14%) — but the hot issue in Washington has shifted from job creation to getting the federal deficit under control.

Even liberal Democrats agree that the federal government needs to bring the deficit under control. The argument is over how soon to start doing it. Is the recovery strong enough that we can stop spending borrowed money to stimulate faster growth? Is the deficit growing so fast that we need to rein in spending now to avoid a fiscal crisis later?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-stimulus-20100624,0,3994305.column

Why was the extension of unemployment not a stand alone bill? People can't wait around while Congress fiddles like Nero when they have ran out of benefits and still don't have a job. These are the people who have been unemployed for 6 months. I know people who have been unemployed for more than a year. What do they expect these people to live on? So Nelson has bailout fatigue? Someone should take his paycheck away. Let's see how fatigued he'll then be.

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