January 22, 2008: As Senate returns, Reid prioritizes stimulus package

[15:14]
Arlen Specter (PA) is now introducing two bills pertaining to the now-much-anticipated economic stimulus package. Specter is calling for true bipartisanship (he sounds guardedly optimistic but I hear some skepticism in his voice).

Specter was glad to see Bennie B. slashing rates this morning. He wants to see rates dropped even further, from 3.5% to 3%. The stimulus package he has introduced includes among other things, allowances for companies to depreciate items more quickly (e.g. for an item with a 20-yr depreciation timeline, a company could take 50% of the remaining depreciation against incomes for this current year).

Now Specter is talking about a trip he took over the recess. He was supposed to meet with slain Pakistani ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto the day after she was killed.

[14:49]
The Senate is currently in quorum call. Later this afternoon, senators will vote on legislation to improve health care for Native American peoples. It allows up to $16b for health care for Indians over the next five years while other provisions extend to 2017. The vote is scheduled for 17:30.

[10:46]
Now minority leader Mitch McConnell (KY) is issuing his 2008 debut speech. He has talked about economic stimulus, success of the surge, Republican willingness to pass decent bills. He urged the other side of the aisle to extend tax cuts and warned that an offset of the AMT will not pass. After all of that, he quickly mentioned that Republicans would continue to fight excess government spending. I don’t think Reid even addressed spending or the deficit or the impending implosion of pay-go, etc.

[10:26]
They're baaaaaack! They being the U.S. Senate, the second session of the 110th Congress.

Majority leader Harry Reid (NV) is talking about bipartisanship vs. obstructionism. He has used the word "change" twice already. This is his first floor speech of the year.

He has talked about the economy, the war. He says that the first thing Congress has to work on is an economic stimulus package. To be effective, he says, the package must be timely, targeted, and effective. This was the terminology Bernanke used. Did you see by the way that Bennie and the Feds cut the fed rate by three-quarters of a percent today!

OK, so the agenda is: (1) stimulus package; (2) health care for native Americans; (3) revision of the foreign intelligence surveillance act (FISA). Somewhere in there, the Senate will vote on a slightly revised version of the vetoed Defense Authorization bill. Last week, the House passed a version of the bill that conceded to the White House’s request to delete a provision in the bill allowing Iraqis to sue the new government for damages incurred during the Hussein regime. Bush vetoed the bill on the basis of this provision alone. Reid seems to say that the Senate is amenable to passing the new version of the bill.