Second Stimulus Package Taking Shape?

Posted In: Alternative Energy, Congress, Economy, Energy, Foreclosures, Housing, Infrastructure, Main Street, Medicare, Political Parties, Politicians, State Government, Stimulus Package, Taxes, U.S. Government, Unemployment, Wall Street

Had an idea this would be a hot topic after the carnage on Wall Street today. CNN Money’s Corey Boles and Michael R. Crittenden wrote this evening:

Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said that the federal government needs to step in and help people on Main Street, urging Republicans on Capitol Hill and the White House to work with the Democratic majority in Congress to finalize an economic assistance package.

“The uncertainty about the future of the market underpins the need for another economic stimulus package,” said Levin…

Levin and Brown were speaking on a media conference call Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called on Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to work to pass a second stimulus package…

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the news from Wall Street underscored the need for another stimulus package, and said he hoped to bring a recovery plan to the House floor soon.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she hoped the Bush administration would come to the table to talk with Democrats.

Brown said elements of a stimulus package needed to include an extension of unemployment insurance benefits, spending to repair the country’s infrastructure, an increase in grants to states to help them pay for rising Medicaid costs, and an extension of tax credits for companies investing in research and development, and renewable energy sources.

According to CNN Money’s Boles and Crittenden, another goal of a second stimulus package could be to rescue the battered U.S. housing market. They wrote:

Democratic aides in the Senate said that lawmakers could attempt to do more with part of a second stimulus bill to bolster the housing market, which is at the root of the problems affecting banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch due to their exposures to the subprime mortgage market.

The aides said that discussions were beginning Monday as to what that assistance could be, and that details weren’t available yet.

Boles and Crittenden also noted there are some who would like to see any housing initiatives include a halt to foreclosures. From the CNN Money piece:

John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest group of U.S. labor unions, renewed his call for a government-imposed moratorium on home foreclosures to allow the problems in the housing market to settle down.

Source:

“3rd UPDATE:Market Woes Reinforce Need For Stimulus -US Dem Sens”
Corey Boles and Michael R. Crittenden
CNN Money, September 15, 2008