Savoring win, Obama celebrates 'major milestone'
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will sign the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus package on Tuesday in Denver, Colorado, officials said Saturday.
The measure, aimed at combating the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, marks Obama's first major victory in Congress, less than a month after taking office.
Obama described the bill's passage as a "major milestone on our road to recovery."
Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said, "I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we'll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done."
At the same time, he cautioned, "The problems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread, and our response must be equal to the task."
The bill passed Friday with lawmakers largely voting along party lines, allowing Democratic leaders to deliver on their promise of clearing the legislation by mid-February.
The Senate approved the measure 60-38 with three Republican moderates providing crucial support. Hours earlier, the House vote was 246-183, with all Republicans opposed to the package of tax cuts and federal spending that Obama has made the centerpiece of his plan for economic recovery.
Obama "now has a bill to sign that will create millions of good-paying jobs and help families and businesses stay afloat financially," said Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat who was a leading architect of the measure.
"It will shore up our schools and roads and bridges, and infuse cash into new sectors like green energy and technology that will sustain our economy for the long term," he added in a statement.
Despite Obama's early bipartisan goals, Republican opposition was nearly unanimous to the $787 billion package. Conservatives in both houses have been relentless critics, arguing the plan is filled with wasteful spending and that greater tax cuts would be more effective in creating jobs.
"A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted and temporary is none of the above," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in remarks Friday on the Senate floor. "And this means Congress is about to approve a stimulus that's unlikely to have much stimulative effect."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in the Republicans' radio address Saturday, contended Democrats settled "on a random dollar amount in the neighborhood of $1 trillion and then set out to fill the bucket."
Told that no House Republican backed the measure Friday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs reacted by citing another number: "3.5 million jobs that we look forward to saving or creating."
Obama gave a thumbs-up sign upon hearing of the package's passage in the House. He hailed the massive bill and the "spirited debate" that accompanied it, but warned that "it's only the beginning of what we must do to turn our economy around."
He said those things include implementing the separate, newly reconfigured $700 billion financial industry bailout program, stemming home foreclosures, reforming financial sector regulations and crafting what he called a "responsible" federal budget.
The legislation, among the costliest ever considered in Congress, provides billions of dollars to victims of the recession through expanded unemployment benefits, food stamps, medical care, job retraining and more. Tens of billions are ticketed for financially strapped states to offset cuts they might otherwise have to make in aid to schools and local governments, and there is more than $48 billion for transportation projects such as road and bridge construction, mass transit and high-speed rail.
Obama's much touted tax break for middle- and working-class Americans survived but was scaled back. To tamp down costs, several tax provisions were dropped or sharply cut back.
The president also won billions of dollars for two other administration priorities — the expansion of computerized information technology in the health care industry, and "green jobs" to make buildings more energy-efficient and reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil.
Final details included the drafting of precise language on trade. The House included a "Buy America" restriction forbidding the use of foreign steel and other products on infrastructure projects funded in the bill. Negotiators were largely going with a Senate version that is much less restrictive, saying the U.S. would abide by its international trade commitments.
The approval caps an early period of accomplishment for the Democrats, who won control of the White House and expanded their majorities in Congress in last fall's elections.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, the president has signed legislation extending government-financed health care to millions of lower-income children who lack it, a bill that President George W. Bush twice vetoed. He also has placed his signature on a measure making it easier for workers to sue their employers for alleged job discrimination, effectively overturning a ruling by the Supreme Court's conservative majority.
After the Senate passed the stimulus package, Obama took his first significant break since taking office on Jan. 20.
Obama and his family are spending the President's Day holiday weekend at their Chicago home. Aides say they have no public events, and the first couple plans to go out for a Valentine's Day dinner Saturday night.
Feb 16, 2009 at 11:16 a.m.
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Carefull Joker, rockcofarmer will blame you for nit-picking.
Feb 16, 2009 at 10:48 a.m.
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If passing this stimulus bill was so important and urgent, why did Obama take the weekend off? Why wait until Tuesday? I ask because none of the legislators have read the whole bill. Yet they still passed it without knowing what it all contained!! There was a big rush and pressure by the White House to pass it and then Obama takes his time signing it.
What happened to the transparency pledge of letting everyone review it for 48 hours?
Feb 16, 2009 at 10:23 a.m.
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In remarks to a story titles "Savoring win, Obama celebrates 'major milestone" the victims of Bush derangement syndrome just can't move forward.
Feb 16, 2009 at 9:42 a.m.
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Looks like the nit-pickers didn't have their facts right. Imagine that. Find some other half truth and come back and bitch.
==As for your "cause". They went to Iraq because a dry drunk, awol reservist who was appointed by the supreme court ordered them to go. They were following orders as any good soldier, marine, sailor or airman is trained to do. Nice try though. If that's how you justify it in your mind fine, but facts are facts. It was and still is one of the biggest blunders in our nations history.
Feb 15, 2009 at 8:14 p.m.
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Bush signed a bill last year authorizing $45 million for environmental studies for the train from LA to Vegas. This is not a new idea, and it is only a part of the $8 billion, not the whole amount.
Feb 15, 2009 at 5:39 p.m.
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Exactly.
Feb 15, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.
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Rockcofarmer: How does an 8 Billion dollar supertrain that wouldn't even be started before 2014 and probably not finished until around 2020 provide a stimulus to the economy TODAY? I was under the impression the Stimulus bill was to provide us all with immediate relief (slight stretch there)now, not years down the road. The soldiers, young and old, who's lives were lost were fighting for a cause. You complain about that lost, but where are your complaints about all the young lives lost on the streets of American Cities? More young people are killed here in a few months then in the war. So, where should we pull them back to to protect them? Sorry to be a nit-picker but then-------we all have our nits to pick
Feb 15, 2009 at 3:50 p.m.
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This bill has very little to do with job creation.
Feb 15, 2009 at 3:46 p.m.
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Not sure what jobs this bill is going to create. The highways and roads projects already have employees and aren't the ones getting laid off. Most of this money isn't going to be spent for another year or longer. I guess I am pretty excited about getting an extra $13 a week in my paycheck.
Feb 15, 2009 at 2:34 p.m.
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"Let's try something new. I'm glad the bill passed. Now let's see if we get some results."
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Back to the "pet project". It will take a 5 year study for environmental impact before any ground breaking for this can occur....where is the stimulus we need today from that?
Feb 15, 2009 at 2:31 p.m.
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"Let me guess, an expansion of I-90 from Madison to the state line would also be considered a 'pet project' to you."
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Not at all. This as well as widening traffic lanes between Vegas and LA could be done for far less then 8 billion for a maglev pet project.
Feb 15, 2009 at 2:29 p.m.
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"Find something you like instead of nit-picking."
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But that is all you did during the last administration. As far as what I like in the bill, the little bit of help for small business was a small-but good start.
Feb 15, 2009 at 2:22 p.m.
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Calling infrastructure investments 'pork' or 'pet projects' is ridiculous. Pet project for whom, California or Nevada? Let me guess, an expansion of I-90 from Madison to the state line would also be considered a 'pet project' to you.
Feb 15, 2009 at 12:40 p.m.
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Another nit-picker has spoken. I felt and still feel that the biggest drain on the budget was and still is the war in Iraq. I don't want my taxes spent there. Was my voice heard for the past six years that this war and the run-up to it has been going on? NO, it was not. But many who are against spending in our own country now, were for and are still for spending deficit dollars on that venture. Not only did it increase off budget spending but was one of the contributing factors for the increase in oil prices.
==Maybe you have never done the drive from LA to LV and back. It is terrible gridlock at peak times. If they put high speed rail there that will be a good thing.
== Find something you like instead of nit-picking. You hypocrits are against spending in our own country in an effort to jump start this economy but don't bat an eye when it's used to destroy another country and culture. I'd be willing to bet that you three and the others that are like minded as you will not find anything good to say about this or anything that the dem's or Obama will do. So what. We tried it your way for eight years and it didn't work. Let's try something new. I'm glad the bill passed. Now let's see if we get some results.
Feb 15, 2009 at 12:06 p.m.
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Rockfarmer---Your statement; “there a lot to be gained by getting that form of transportation in that area”, is sadly without foundation. To steal 8 billion dollars from the US tax payers for a redundant transportation system is PORK. There currently are mass transit options in place already; aircraft, buses, Amtrak, limousines’, etc that don’t need added “STIMULUS” money. To add an additional pet project that currently has been fiscally not viable (if it was a company would have already built it) is ludicrous.
Feb 15, 2009 at 11:48 a.m.
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What you're doing is called nit-picking. There is a lot to be gained by getting that form of transportation in that area. Traffic congestion, pollution, traffic accidents would all be lessened by this. Plus, there would be jobs created. It's inter-state transportation so the feds should be spearheading it. What was in the bill that you liked? Seems your bitching just to bitch.
Feb 15, 2009 at 11:14 a.m.
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They cut back on the middle-class tax breaks but gave Sen Reid an Eight Billion Dollar pork gift for an super fast train from Las Vegas to Los Angles. How stimulating. Just goes to prove that it doesn't matter who's in charge in the Federal Government, the ME factor takes precedent over helping the American Public.
Why is it that politicians that might actually help solve problems either never get elected or if they do they are ignored?
Now is the time to start keeping track of what the policitian says and what the politician actually does. If he or she lives up to their promises then they deserve to be re-elected. If they just promise and do not deliver, then it is time to look else where. We need common sense doers in the State and Federal Government, not us against them all the time. We need Americanship not partisianship.
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