Obama's stimulus package

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Cut-N-paste from
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/wo...tml?id=1229617

"Remember U.S. President Barack Obama's inaugural appeal for a new era of bipartisan co-operation in Washington? It lasted barely a week.
A divided U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday night passed an $819-billion economic stimulus package along party lines, with Republicans overwhelmingly opposing a plan they say will do little to revive America's flagging economy. The vote was 244 to 188.
The House action moves Obama a step closer to securing his first major achievement as president, but the victory comes at a political cost -- his failure to win GOP backing despite repeated attempts at outreach.
"We don't think (the stimulus legislation) will work and, frankly, are disappointed in the product that we see -- a lot of wasteful spending that won't create jobs and won't help preserve jobs in America," said Representative John Boehner, the Republican House leader. "We think there's a better way."
Obama has been aggressively seeking Republican backing for the stimulus legislation by personally supporting the inclusion of about $275 billion in tax cuts. He took the unusual step this week of going to Capitol Hill to personally lobby senior Republican lawmakers. On Wednesday evening, he hosted a dozen GOP leaders for cocktails at the White House.
The attempts to build support for the stimulus package among business-friendly conservatives also included a meeting earlier Wednesday with a group of corporate executives, including the CEOs of Google and IBM.
"I'd say the message has to be that the situation is dire," David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell International, said after the meeting with Obama. "We are very supportive of the Reinvestment Act. Our message would be (it) needs to get done fast. We have to get this thing done quickly."
Obama told the executives, "We don't have a moment to spare" in passing the stimulus, which he said will save or create up to four million jobs.
In addition to the tax cuts in the House stimulus bill -- primarily delivered via a credit on payroll taxes -- the House legislation includes $544 billion in spending. That includes money for infrastructure projects, green energy initiatives, increased aid for the unemployed and investments in public education and health care.
But Republicans have fumed that -- despite Obama's attempts at consultation -- they were largely ignored by House Democrats who wrote the stimulus legislation. A separate stimulus bill being debated in the Senate would cost $887 billion.
GOP leaders said one of their primary concerns is that large chunks of the stimulus package are being allotted to "pork" projects that will do nothing to create jobs.
As examples, they've cited funding for arts groups and global climate change studies.
Republicans also protested an earlier version of the House bill that included hundreds of millions of dollars allotted for family planning programs and beautifying the National Mall in Washington.
"What House Democrats have done here is get out a dusty old wish list of liberal spending priorities, dump it all in a bill and throw in a few token tax cuts on top of it," Indiana Representative Mike Pence, who has led Republican opposition, said in a televised interview.
"What is $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts going to do to create jobs? What's $400 million to study global climate change going to do to put America back to work?"
Republican lawmakers proposed changes calling for bigger tax cuts by lowering the rate paid by lower- and middle-class Americans.
The early partisan bickering presents a challenge for Obama, who in his inaugural speech said it was time for Washington to put aside "the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long."
But already, there have been harsh words on both sides of the political aisle.
Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi has dismissed Republican complaints by saying: "Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election."
Rancour among Republicans, meantime, has been spurred by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who last week said he hoped Obama's presidency fails because it would mean socialism in America."

Our poor kids, Having to pay for this and Bush's stupid Bank bailout.
We just need a different System of government, First rule, No Idiots allowed threw the door.
Second rule, Refer to #1.
Third and last rule, You must no what FUBAR is and keep in mind, we do.

Ron