(Updates with comments from Obama and Senate Majority Leader Reid, starting in fourth paragraph.)
By Corey Boles Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Details of a roughly $800 billion economic-stimulus plan are emerging, with congressional lawmakers saying the legislation may cost more than $1 trillion and won't be completed by the time President-elect Barack Obama is sworn into office Jan. 20.
The recovery package is aimed at providing a boost to the ailing U.S. economy, which has been in recession since November 2007. It is seen as most likely that the stimulus legislation will be completed by February.
Obama was on Capitol Hill Monday for meetings with House and Senate leadership, with discussions about the stimulus package no doubt featuring highly in their talks. It was Obama's first visit to Congress since being elected president in November.
After one meeting, Obama said he hopes most of the hard work on the stimulus package would be completed shortly after he took office.
"We anticipate that by the end of January or the first week in February, we have gotten the bulk of this done," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Obama indicated in the meetings that a panel of economic advisers had recommended the stimulus package be between $800 million and $1.3 trillion, in order to be truly effective.
It is believed that broad outlines of the recovery package are beginning to come together, with details of individual spending initiatives still being worked out between the House and Senate.
Most lawmakers will only return to Washington later Monday or early Tuesday after the holiday break, so much of the work on the details of the stimulus plan has been done by congressional aides so far.
The package would include $300 billion in tax cuts for most Americans as well as for many businesses.
Details of the proposed tax cuts were released Sunday evening in an attempt to placate Republican lawmakers, who over the weekend had been starting to raise concerns about the amount of federal government spending being included in the package.
Also forming part of the legislation would be between $150 billion and $200 billion in increased grants to states to help them afford rising health care and education-related costs.
Between $300 billion and $350 billion of spending will be included on items like infrastructure upgrades, investments to the nation's energy grid, improvements to health-care technology as well as a boost to spending for people who have lost their jobs and lost their health-care coverage as a result.
The infrastructure spending is likely to include spending on traditional road, bridge and sewer-system repairs, as well as on broadband Internet infrastructure and other areas seen by Democrats as investments in the country's future.
Money will be allocated to extend unemployment insurance benefits again, which have twice been raised since the onset of the economic downturn. There is some suggestion that benefits could be extended through 2009 and the amount recipients receive being increased as well.
Some lawmakers want to overhaul the unemployment insurance system to increase benefits for part-time workers on a permanent basis, but it is unclear whether this will make the final legislation.
Drafts of aspects of the legislation could start circulating by the end of the week, and hearings to allow lawmakers a chance to debate the aspects of the rescue package as soon as next week.
-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; corey.boles@dowjones.com
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Publié le 05 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones