With Congress moving toward passage of an $800 billion-plus economic stimulus plan, big government is back. Unabashed. With a vengeance.
The stimulus is bigger than the Pentagon's entire budget. It's more than the United States has spent on the war in Iraq. And its hundreds of provisions reach into almost every aspect of American life - from workers' paychecks and local schools to digital television and modernizing medical records.
Not since the Great Depression has Congress set out to expand and redefine so drastically the government's role in the economy.
"The three-decade-long period where the default assumption was that government is the problem, not the solution, has clearly ended," says former Clinton administration aide Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution.
If the stimulus plan succeeds, it's likely to mean a larger, more activist government for years to come. If the plan is judged a failure - whether because the economic crisis persists or the public becomes disenchanted - the idea of government as an active player in national life could be discredited anew.
It remains a challenge just to understand what's in the plan. The version passed by the House last week ran 647 pages; the Senate version, which may come to a vote this week, will likely be longer.
One fact often blurred in the political debate is that the plan was designed to have both fast-acting elements and longer-term elements.
The idea was that the current downturn was so severe that the economy might need a second-stage boost. Also, President Barack Obama and his advisers wanted to include some things that would potentially make the economy more efficient - a national system of computerized medical records, for example, or greater ability to use renewable energy such as wind power.
Here is a review of the basic elements, based primarily on the House bill:
Jobs
In this area, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats are following a popular theory: The best offense is a good defense. Spending and tax cuts are designed to discourage job elimination as well as to encourage job growth.
Aid to states, for example, could allow them to avoid cutting back services and laying off workers to meet budget-balancing rules. Money spent on highway and other infrastructure projects could open up jobs for construction workers and others idled by the housing crash.
