Great articles from Taxpayers for Common Sense

Some great articles from Taxpayers for Common Sense:

With our national economy on the ropes and job losses skyrocketing, the House of Representatives this week passed the $819 billion economic stimulus legislation. It is the largest stimulus legislation in U.S. history and passed without one Republican vote.

The one point of political consensus is that we have huge problems in our economy. And there is some agreement that our nation’s deteriorating economic condition means Congress must quickly move to reduce the impact of the deepening recession. But the agreement ends there. The partisan bickering this week has instead centered on what is the best type of stimulus—increased government spending or tax cuts. This controversy stems from principled beliefs on both sides. But too often, politics eclipse principles, and important policy debates become focused on rhetorical points instead of making the best decisions. Read the full story.

Stimulus Aid to States: Some Room for Improvement

States are struggling in the current recession, and unlike the federal government, most are required to balance their budgets. Consequently the House stimulus package includes a chunk of federal aid for state governments. Examples include picking up more of a state’s Medicaid tab, increased funding for state and local law enforcement, provisions for the federal government to bear a larger share of bridge and highway repairs and construction, and a new $79 billion pot of money for state and local governments called the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. Additional provisions that are intended to create jobs and jump start parts of local economies could also indirectly help states’ bottom lines, according to proponents. In all, the National Governors Association estimates that $318 billion of the $825 billion stimulus bill is directed at state and local governments. Read the full story.

Clean Coal Gets Boost in House and Senate Stimulus Bills

Both the House and Senate included increase for clean coal technologies in their stimulus bills. The House provided $2.4 billion for carbon capture and storage technologies and the Senate provided $4.6 billion for fossil fuel energy research and development. Of the $4.6 billion, the Senate earmarked $2 billion for one or more near zero-emissions power plants which use carbon capture and storage. This sounds similar to the FutureGen project DOE recently abandoned because of massive increases in cost. The Senate also earmarks $1 billion for the Clean Coal Power Initiative with the remainder allotted for carbon capture and sequestration projects. Read the full story.

Bank Bailout: GAO to Treasury Department – More Effort Needed

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has just released its second report on the progress of the Treasury Department’s in implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Out of a possible $700 billion to be allocated under the program, about $294 billion had been distributed as of January 23, 2009, according to the report. Read the full story.

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