President Obama met with House and Senate leadership from both parties in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Friday morning January 23 to push for quick adoption of the pending economic stimulus legislation. Acknowledging that the legislative package is a "heavy lift" for all concerned, Obama repeated his prediction the new spending and tax cuts will create between three million and four million new jobs. He said "it appears we are on target to make our Presidents' Day weekend," referring to the upcoming Congressional recess and the day he expects to sign the legislation.
The bills have been reported out of the House Ways and Means, Appropriations and Energy and Commerce Committees, and a floor vote is expected in the House Wednesday, January 28, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Markups are expected to begin in the Senate Appropriations and Finance Committees Tuesday, January 27, even before the House passes the measure.
Complaints about the package can be heard from both sides of the legislative aisles, including Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio's remark that the construction portion of the spending measure is "a pathetic amount of money just to deal with deferred maintenance," and House Minority Leader Boehner's comment that the measure "spends too much and spends it too late." Nevertheless, the $153 billion appropriated for construction projects remains intact.
Meanwhile, business lobbyists are opposing the "buy American" provisions regarding steel for construction and hardware and software for medical record computerization which have been written into the legislation, on the grounds that such protectionist legislation will ultimately hurt American exports to other countries, China in particular. Executives of certain tech industry companies, though, praise the appropriation of $40 billion for IT projects, asserting that such spending will create 949,000 technology jobs, more than half in small businesses.
Next week's Senate committee markups will determine whether the package can gather bipartisan support, or whether voting is likely to fall out along strict party lines.
The bills have been reported out of the House Ways and Means, Appropriations and Energy and Commerce Committees, and a floor vote is expected in the House Wednesday, January 28, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Markups are expected to begin in the Senate Appropriations and Finance Committees Tuesday, January 27, even before the House passes the measure.
Complaints about the package can be heard from both sides of the legislative aisles, including Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Peter DeFazio's remark that the construction portion of the spending measure is "a pathetic amount of money just to deal with deferred maintenance," and House Minority Leader Boehner's comment that the measure "spends too much and spends it too late." Nevertheless, the $153 billion appropriated for construction projects remains intact.
Meanwhile, business lobbyists are opposing the "buy American" provisions regarding steel for construction and hardware and software for medical record computerization which have been written into the legislation, on the grounds that such protectionist legislation will ultimately hurt American exports to other countries, China in particular. Executives of certain tech industry companies, though, praise the appropriation of $40 billion for IT projects, asserting that such spending will create 949,000 technology jobs, more than half in small businesses.
Next week's Senate committee markups will determine whether the package can gather bipartisan support, or whether voting is likely to fall out along strict party lines.
