Stimulus Package

Washington. -- The solid phalanx of Republican senators seeking to filibuster President Clinton's $16.3 billion economic stimulus package into oblivion has been having a field day finding little specks of possible pork in the proposal and then declaring the whole exercise a boondoggle.The suggested one-time injection of $2.5 billion into the community development block grant (CDBG) program is the whipping boy of choice. The editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal combed through a 4,000-item "ready-to-go" public works list compiled some months ago by the U.S. Conference of Mayors -- projects that cities might or might not eventually select for CDBG funding.

JUST ABOUT everyone agrees our stagnant economy needs a shot in the arm. But the stimulus package the House narrowly passed after rancorous debate isn't the right medicine. It costs too much, lasts too long and does too little to address the economy's main problem -- anemic consumer spending. One month ago, a bipartisan consensus, backed by the president, seemed to endorse a sensible stimulus package of $60 billion to $75 billion, divided roughly equally between tax cuts and added spending.

Americans should feel some relief that President Barack Obama, Congress and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner are moving aggressively to confront the nation's mounting economic crisis. The Senate yesterday passed its version of an economic stimulus bill designed to pump $838 billion into the economy, and Mr. Geithner laid out a sweeping plan to invest up to $1.5 trillion to rescue the nation's banking system, provide credit to consumers and small businesses and help homeowners facing foreclosure.

The Democrats are using the crisis in the economy to steamroll their long-term agenda through Congress under the guise of a stimulus package. It is unconscionable for the majority party to do this at a time when we, the people, are at their mercy ("Stimulus package will touch nearly everyone," Feb. 1). Not a single Republican member of the House supported the stimulus bill, and for good reason. They know when they are being steamrolled. If Mr. Obama is truly committed to bipartisan politics and solving the economic crisis at hand, he needs to tell his fellow Democrats to back off. Dudley Thompson, Waynesboro The fact that the entire Republican delegation voted against the bailout bill in the House is clear evidence nothing has changed in Washington.

Japan's Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has been sufficiently weakened by political battles he barely survived to make his Friday meeting with President Clinton a probable waste of time. His political and economic reforms riddled by compromise, he hardly seems strong enough to make Japan's interest groups accept numerical goals to measure progress in opening markets to foreign competition.That is the key remaining U.S. demand on Japanese economic restructuring. Mr. Hosokawa's economic stimulus package, just enacted, goes about as far as American firms can expect in boosting Japanese demand for their products and services.

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama's call for speedy adoption of a massive spending plan to "jolt" the economy will prove an early test of two major promises: that he will work in a bipartisan style with a skeptical Republican Party, and that he will purge the federal budget of wasteful projects. Even conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill predict that, in the end, a substantial stimulus package will pass. Job losses and a deepening recession demand a quick infusion of money, they say. But Republicans in the Senate, even with their ranks diminished, still possess leverage to tailor a package that fits certain specifications.

WASHINGTON - With U.S. auto sales falling near a 27-year low, the Senate gave its approval yesterday to a proposal by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski to provide tax breaks to purchasers of new cars and light trucks. The Maryland Democrat's measure, which raises the price tag on the Senate's version of the economic stimulus package to almost $900 billion, would apply only to new vehicles purchased this calendar year. Mikulski said her plan "actually creates jobs" by stimulating employment in car making, sales and service.

The Howard County Education Association, which represents teachers and support workers, says it has postponed further salary negotiations with the school system until it gets a sense of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. The union has met with the school system twice this academic year to negotiate before suspending the process, HCEA president Ann DeLacy said. "After assessing the economic environment, both [sides] have decided to see what effects if any the Obama stimulus package would have on our county's economic status," she said.

Addressing keen taxpayer interest in how federal stimulus dollars will be spent, Gov. Martin O'Malley launched a Web site yesterday that uses high-tech mapping systems to show where the money will go in Maryland. The state expects $3.7 billion from the stimulus package signed last week by President Barack Obama, including $1.6 billion for health and human services, $1.1 billion for education and $610 million for transportation projects. The Web site, www.recovery.maryland.gov, uses geographic information system technology and allows users to enter a home address to see how their communities benefit.

Nearly 1,000 members of a Baltimore advocacy group gathered at a church last night to demand that, in trying economic times, funding for youth programming be a priority for the state and the city. Members of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development want Mayor Sheila Dixon to commit to spend the first 25 percent of any economic stimulus package from the incoming Obama administration on youth center renovations. Alternatively, the group says it would be satisfied if Dixon spent a quarter of the city's Rainy Day Fund - where it keeps its budget reserves - on youth violence-prevention programs.