Tag: economic stimulus

The group gathered at a cafe in downtown Golden continues discussing the stimulus plan. 7:45 p.m. - Jobs, jobs, jobs, the group agrees. The Denver Health...

Continuing the liveblog with a group discussing the stimulus plan at Higher Grounds Cafe in Golden. 7:15 p.m. - Reilly recounts some stories from Saturday...

In the past few days, organizers using My.BarrackObama.com have put together dozens of meetings throughout Colorado in living rooms, basements and coffee shops to discuss the economic stimulus package moving its way through Congress. Is the Senate plan too heavy on tax cuts or are proposed spending cuts too tame? Will the eventual legislation restore $40 billion originally intended to help states close widening budget gaps or will fiscal hawks demand more cuts? Will Democrats accept a slimmed-down stimulus package in order to claim bipartisan support, even if not a single House Republican voted for it the first time around? These and more questions will be discussed across the country in coming days. Sunday night, we'll see what a group of Jefferson County voters have to say as we live-blog an economic recovery meeting at a coffee shop in Golden.

The smart folks over at the Bell Policy Center have some suggestions for nascent U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet who's wrangling a compromise within the $900 billion federal stimulus bill a mere three week after his swearing-in.

Colorado's two freshman senators, both Democrats, are part of a bipartisan group that spent Thursday forging a proposal to trim up to $100 billion in spending from the economic stimulus bill in hopes of winning support from moderate Republicans and Democrats who have complained the package devotes too much money to programs that won't create jobs fast enough. "The American people are expecting this to be a recovery bill, not a Christmas list," said Sen. Michael Bennet Thursday evening between votes on the bill.

This e-mail to supporters just in from Sen. John McCain, who appears to have hit the books since his historic drubbing at the polls. Just a year ago, the Arizona Republican admitted to the Wall Street Journal he "doesn't really understand economics," so was deferring to his former Senate colleague, Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm, as his expert on the topic. That's right, Phil "Mental Recession" Gramm, who would likely be treasury secretary if McCain had won the election.

As if that last campaign season wasn't long enough, it looks like the next one is already well underway. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) launched a fusillade on Monday against 25 House Democrats who voted in favor of the $819 billion stimulus bill last week. Freshman Rep. Betsy Markey, the first Democrat to represent the 4th District in more than three decades, was the lone lawmaker to merit the NRCC's attention in Colorado.

Despite a lofty launch last week, the good ship Bipartisan is sunk, at least so far as the economic stimulus is concerned. President Barack Obama and House Democrats bent over backwards to appease the GOP by including several tax breaks and excluding a major anti-foreclosure measure from the package, but when it came time to vote, zero House Republican backed the bill. Lawmakers who actually care about the fate of the U.S. economy are furious. Every day spent haggling with obstinate Republicans means heavier economic damage. What's more, many of the tax breaks the GOP insisted on are simply terrible policies, whatever the economic climate.

As Congress debates a roughly $825 billion economic stimulus package, many interest groups want to make sure their pet programs get a piece of the action. The education community is no exception.

Just after Rep. Mike Coffman voted, along with all the other House Republicans, against the $816 billion stimulus package -- the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, by its proper name -- the Aurora lawmaker blasted a statement to the press explaining his reasoning. "The American people deserve better than this pork-laden spending frenzy masquerading as a ‘stimulus package’," Coffman said. He drew on no less an authority than a Congressional Budget Office report to make the point that the spending would reach the economy too slowly to do the job. Problem is, the CBO report doesn't exist, and another, actual CBO report comes to very different conclusions.