Capital Games

The debate on stimulus

OK, so it's a federal holiday, and I'm taking care of things I've meant to do for a long time. And in the course of doing that, I found some old notes about C-Span's video search service.

It's not updated immediately [Senate clips seem to take longer to appear than House clips] but you can search it by particular bills or members of Congress.

So I thought I'd provide a sampling of what the delegation from New Jersey said on the floor about the stimulus bill. The House passed its version of the bill on Jan. 28. And since the arguments for and against the bill in the House at that point did not change much when the final bill came up for consideration last week, I pulled the clips from that debate. The full debate can be accessed here.

We join the debate on the night of Jan. 27.

Stimulus: Where the money goes

Since the bill was not even published before late last night, details were coming out from many sources.

The Center for American Progress posted a map today estimating New Jersey's total from the $792 billion bill, including payments to public agencies and individuals, was about $17.4 billion. It did not detail how much was from each program in the bill, however.

Different committees in Congress were responsible for different parts of the bill and offering information.

The Senate Appropriations Committee provided an overview for about $311 billion of the spending. There was also this summary from the House Appropriations Committee.

The House Transportation & Infrastruction Committee provided some details about where $64 billion of that would go and even gave state-by-state totals for some of the programs.

The tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee released details about the tax provisions. Locally, we know this about the tax provisions:

• The White House said on Thursday that President Obama's signature "make work pay" tax credit of $400 for individuals and $800 for couples would benefit 3.2 million New Jersey workers.
• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said 77,000 New Jersey families would be eligible for enhanced college tuition credits
• The Senate Finance Committee said without the provision preventing an explosion in the Alternative Minimum Tax, 1.7 million New Jersey households faced tax increases averaging $3,000 each.

Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, both D-N.J., and Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, issued this statement about provisions that would allow up to a $1.5 billion federal commitment towards a new rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York under the Hudson River and $17 billion for other rail and transit projects nationwide. Here's what they said:

Stimulus passes House; GOP opposed

The House approved the massive stimulus bill, now priced at $792 billion after a last minute Congressional Budget Office report, a few minutes ago.

The vote was 246-183, with seven Democrats joining all House Republicans in voting 'no'.

Here's what North Jersey representatives had to say about the bill:

Fishman backed for U.S. Attorney

New Jersey's two senators urged President Obama today to make Paul J. Fishman of Montclair the state's next United States Attorney.

Fishman worked as a federal prosecutor from the mid-80s through 1994, and was head of the office's criminal division when the U.S. Attorney was Samuel Alito, now a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fishman was a top aide in Washington to then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno for three years before entering private practice in 1997.

His recent clients include the developers of the Encap project in the Meadowlands and ousted union leader Carla Katz, in a public disclosure lawsuit over emails she sent to her former lover, Governor Corzine.

Stimulus clears key Senate hurdle

The Senate just voted, 61-36, to approve an important procedural measure related to the $827 billion economic stimulus measure. Three Republicans -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- voted with Democrats for ending debate.

The vote clears the way for the full package likely to be approved around noon tomorrow. Then House and Senate negotiators sit down with the Obama administration to try to hammer out a final compromise. Key differences include Senate reductions in some spending, including aid for towns and schools, and increases in some tax cuts. [Highlights of the bill from the Senate Appropriations Committee]

Sen. Bob Menendez put out this statement after tonight's:

“Families all across New Jersey and the country are looking to us to help spark the economic change that will make a real difference in their lives. This was a big hurdle that we cleared, and now we are much closer to enacting a package that will create millions of jobs, low-cost energy options and significant tax relief.

“While I believe that the original version of the bill could do even more for working families than its current form, this was a vote that allows us to continue working with President Obama to put people to work again and get our economy going. I believe that we have a chance to improve this package during negotiations with the House, and ultimately, we will deliver a package focused on job creation, job security and the foundation for future economic success.”

Pascrell: Probe Bruce tix sale

Just posted a story about Rep. Bill Pascrell calling for an investigation into Ticketmaster's handling of Springsteen tickets yesterday.

Pascrell's full letter is below: