Politico reports that a deal may have been reached between the House, the White House, and the Senate on the stimulus package in the conference process:
Breaking: Politico’s David Rogers, "Progress in late-night stimulus talks" – DEAL POSSIBLE TODAY: "With Senate approval in hand, Barack Obama’s economic recovery program moved quickly Tuesday into late night negotiations in the Capitol with the president stepping forward more to put his stamp on the package and to expedite final passage. ... White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Budget Director Peter Orszag shuttled between House and Senate leadership offices, spurred on by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who said he wanted a ‘first cut’ of what a final bill might look like in the next 24 hours. Scaling the package back to $790 billion to $800 billion with the goal of still generating 3.5 million jobs is part of the discussions. One option would be to reduce Obama’s signature ‘Making Work Pay’ tax break to $400 for individuals and $800 for couples—down from $500 and $1000 respectively."
Scaling back Obama's tax cuts for the middle class even further? Goddamnit. They already were scaled back in the Senate stimulus bill to the lower-income, instead of at the higher-income level limit. Here's also what the White House is fighting for (they've decided to drop Medicaid for the unemployed in favor of the education funding):
Early indications are that the White House does not want a prolonged fight with rural senators over Medicaid but would like to resurrect school construction funds, a priority Obama shares with Pelosi.
This is what Speaker Pelosi would like to see restored back into the stimulus package:
Both Obama and Pelosi are hoping to restore significant stimulus spending eliminated by the Senate, especially $21 billion in school construction and technology grants, $10.3 billion in COBRA insurance and $8.6 billion in new Medicaid coverage for the unemployed.
And this is what they would like to see cut out of the stimulus package from the Senate side:
But privately, House Democratic staffers see several areas of potential accommodation, including alterations to the mixture of tax cuts and spending that could result in scaling back a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, a favorite of the Senate GOP, and $11 billion in deduction of taxes on auto purchases, strongly opposed by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).
House Democrats, angered by the cuts to the most important parts of the stimulus pacakge, would like to see the Senate Republicans do a filibuster:
Many House members think Democrats should force Republicans to filibuster, saying it would be politically damaging to appear to be blocking progress amid disastrous economic news. "Let them filibuster," Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said. "You have 58 votes. Three votes shouldn’t be allowed to blackmail the whole country."
While Pelosi said leaders thought they were "in good shape with the caucus," a group of centrist Democrats was privately asking her to stand up for some of the Senate changes.
"There are several provisions that we believe have been improved upon in the Senate, or which deserve special attention during a conference or other informal negotiations," the leadership of the New Democratic Coalition wrote Pelosi in a letter on Monday.
But the biggest block of Democratic dissenters came from the conservative Blue Dogs.
HELP SUPPORT THE HOUSE DEMOCRATS RESTORE THE CUTS TO THE STIMULUS PACKAGE!
CALL THESE LIKELY HOUSE CONFEREES
Speaker Nancy Pelosi CALL HER AT (202) 225-0100, and let her know that YOU SUPPORT THE HOUSE VERSION OF THE STIMULUS AND TO OPPOSE THE CUTS. Tell her to make them filibuster if possible!
Rep. Charlie Rangel (Ways and Means) CALL HIM AT (202) 225-4365, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THE LOCAL OFFICE AT: (212) 663-3900
Rep. David Obey(Appropriations) CALL HIM AT (202) 225-3365, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THE LOCAL OFFICES AT: (715) 842-5606 and (715) 398-4426
Rep. Henry Waxman (Energy & Commerce) CALL HIM AT (202) 225-3976, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THE LOCAL OFFICE AT THESE NUMBERS: (323) 651-1040
(818) 878-7400 (310) 652-3095
Rep. Steny Hoyer CALL HIM AT (202) 225-4131, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THESE LOCAL OFFICE NUMBERS: (301) 474-0119, and (301) 843-1577
Rep. Jerry Lewis CALL HIM AT (202) 225-5861, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THIS LOCAL OFFICE NUMBER: (909) 862-6030
Rep. Dave Camp CALL HIM AT (202) 225-3561, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THESE LOCAL NUMBERS: (231) 929-4711, and (989) 631-2552
CALL THESE LIKELY SENATE CONFEREES
Senator Max Baucus (Finance) CALL HIM AT (202) 224-2651, and if you can't reach his main office, call these offices below:
222 North 32nd Street
Suite 100
Billings, MT 59101
(406) 657-6790
Bozeman, Montana
Federal Building
32 East Babcock
Suite 114
Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 586-6104
Butte, Montana
Silver Bow Center
125 West Granite
Suite 100
Butte, MT 59701
(406) 782-8700
Great Falls, Montana
113 3rd Street North
Great Falls, MT 59401
(406) 761-1574
(406) 452-1117 (TDD)
Helena, Montana
Empire Block
30 West 14th Street
Suite 206
Helena, MT 59601
(406) 449-5480
Kalispell, Montana
8 Third Street East
Kalispell, MT 59901
(406) 756-1150
Missoula, Montana
1821 South Avenue West
Suite 203
Missoula, MT 59801
(406) 329-3123
Senator Daniel Inouye (Appropriations) CALL HIM AT 202-224-3934, and if you can't reach his main office, try these numbers below:
Honolulu
300 Ala Moana Boulevard
Room 7-212
Honolulu, Hawaii 96850-4975
808-541-2542 Fax: 808-541-2549
Maui
Ryther Barbin, Field Representative
555 Iao Valley Road
Wailuku, HI 96793
808-242-9702 Fax: 808-242-7233
Hilo
Delbert Nishimoto, Field Representative
101 Aupuni Street, #205
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
808-935-0844 Fax: 808-961-5163
Molokai
William Akutagawa, Field Representative
P.O. Box 573
Kaunakakai, Hawaii 96748
808-560-3653 Fax: 808-560-3385
Kona
Wayne Tanaka, Field Representative
P.O. Box 4l
Kealakekua, Hawaii 96750
808-935-0844 Fax: 808-961-5163
Kauai
Ronald Sakoda, Field Representative
1840A Leleiona Street
P.O. Box 311
Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii 96766
808-245-4611 Fax: 808-246-9515
West Oahu
Edmund C. Aczon, Field Representative
94-403 Punono St.
Mililani, Hawaii 96789
808-623-8334
Senator Harry Reid CALL HIM AT 202-224-3542, and if you can't reach his main office, try these local offices below:
Reno
Bruce R. Thompson
Courthouse & Federal Bldg
400 S. Virginia St, Suite 902
Reno, NV 89501
Phone: 775-686-5750
Fax: 775-686-5757
Carson City
600 East William St, #302
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: 775-882-REID (7343)
Fax: 775-883-1980
Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard
South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: 702-388-5020
Fax: 702-388-5030
Also, CALL THESE THREE SENATE GOP SENATORS:
Senator Susan Collins
413 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2523
Senator Olympia Snowe
154 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5344
Senator Arlen Specter
711 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4254
Oh, and call Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) at (202) 224-6551 that he's a moron, and that he should restore the cuts back to education and health care.
When you call these likely conferees to ask for the restoration of the cuts that were made to the Senate stimulus, please feel free to use this list below:
RESTORATION OF THESE CUTS
- State-stabilization funding
- School construction
- Health-care for the unemployed (INSIST ON THE HOUSE CONFERENCE VERSION)
- Higher Education construction
- Greening of federal buildings
- Broadband infrastructure
- HIT grants
- Head Start/Early Start
- Food stamps
CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AT 202-456-1111, and TELL THEM YOU WANT THE CUTS RESTORED BACK TO THE STIMULUS, INCLUDING THE CUTS TO MEDICAID AND COBRA FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.
And if you want, you can ask for the tax cuts, including the $15,000 tax credit for the house-flipper, to be repealed except for Obama's tax cuts for the middle class.
Also, please recommend this diary if you think it's important for these cuts to be restored and if these cuts go through, they WILL be disastrous for the economy, according to many economists interviewed by the Huffington Post. (h/t to xysea).
UPDATED: Elana Schor over at TPM illustrates why the COBRA 65% subsidy is so important for the unemployed:
The House stimulus provides $40 billion to create a 65% government subsidy for COBRA, the health insurance program for unemployed Americans -- but the Senate centrists sliced that in half for their stimulus, cutting COBRA to $21 billion or a 50% subsidy.
The worthiness of maintaining the House's 65% COBRA subsidy is clear to anyone who's ever paid to maintain employer-sponsored health benefits after leaving a job. COBRA is prohibitively expensive for even those in two-income families, and slicing the subsidy would put the coverage out of many people's financial reach. But how many people would get health care under the 65% subsidy? Pelosi asked the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that question, and she got her answer last night.
7 million adults and dependent children would get the subsidized COBRA by the end of this year, the CBO told Pelosi in a letter available on their web site. Another 1.2 million people also would get health coverage under the House stimulus, the CBO said, thanks to a provision that secures Medicaid coverage for low-income workers who lose their jobs and have no other option.
Unfortunately, the Senate didn't touch the Medicaid issue in their stimulus. And something tells me senators won't be eager to debate the health care benefits in the two competing bills, because it's a fight the House will win.
UPDATE #2: WHAT THE HELL? Just read from TalkingPointsMemo that the $500,000 Wall Street CEO pay cap may be cut out of the stimulus package!!!
"The plan is to take out the executive compensation provisions ... and blame the Republicans for setting out the level [of $800 billion]" for the final version of the stimulus, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) told me.
The Senate's limits on compensation for executives receiving government bailout money -- a welcome sign after President Obama's CEO pay caps were revealed to be riddled with loopholes -- were scored as a $10 billion money-loser by the Congressional Budget Office. Because of pressure to limit the size of the stimulus in order to retain GOP senators' support, Sherman's prediction about the executive pay caps is looking likely to come true. But why would Democrats want to send such a bizarre signal about their commitment to reining in corporate excess? When MoveOn.org has gotten more than 300,000 signatures on a petition calling for even stronger salary caps at bailed-out companies, why would Congress want to water down its proposed pay limits?
Neither Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) office nor Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus' (D-MT) office responded to queries about cutting the pay caps. But we'll know more this afternoon, when a formal conference meeting is being held with GOP negotiators in the room. Of course, all signs are pointing to an agreement that already exists after closed-door talks among Democrats stretched into the night yesterday.
UPDATE #3: Glenn Thrush over at Politico reports that an e-mail was sent out to House Democrats:
This just E-mailed to members:
Subject: Emergency Caucus Meeting Expected This Afternoon
Please note:
Members should expect an emergency Caucus meeting today to discuss the conference report on H.R. 1 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
We hope to be able to give Member’s at least 30 minutes notice before the start of the meeting. We will update members as quickly as possible on the details of the agreement as soon as they are available, hence the emergency nature of the meeting.
Thank You!
UPDATE #4: The House Democrats haven't agreed yet to the stimulus agreement that came out of the Senate side. It seems that they're still pushing for restoration of these cuts back to the stimulus package according to an article in Politico:
Nelson: Deal details not "locked in"
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), briefing reporters on the details of the stimulus compromise, stopped short of actually saying he was 100 percent sure House Democrats had signed on.
"There was general agreement," he said during a briefing in the Senate print press gallery. "It doesn't mean everything is locked in yet. But if we didn't have an agreement, then there wouldn't have been a news conference."
Radio silence from the House so far, but leaders are now huddling over handwritten details of the deal.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who accompanied Nelson to the gallery, was reading numbers off a crumpled, torn out notebook page covered with magic marker-ed numbers.
Right now, the Progressive Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus are working the phone lines to reinstate some of the cuts to social spending programs:
n particular, progressive Democrats and members of the Congressional Black Caucus would like to see more money for social spending programs that was cut from the Senate package over the weekend in a deal with three moderate Republican senators. It’s not clear if they will get all their wishes, but the deal announced this afternoon will be finalized in the coming hours.
The CBC sent House negotiators a letter Wednesday asking them to add an additional $4.2 billion for the federal government to lend states money to acquire foreclosed homes, another $4 billion for job-training programs and $14 billion for school construction.
They would also like to see more money for broadband Internet access for impoverished neighborhoods and protections in the bill to ensure minority-owned businesses will benefit.
"I'm all for bipartisanship, but I don't consider three Republican senators bipartisan," said Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who oversees economic recovery issues for the CBC. "Let's not deny who we are legislatively for three senators."
Elana Schor over at TalkingPointsMemo reports that the House conferees didn't show up for the press conference with the Senate conferees. It may have been that they were left out of the loop.
(Late Update: Despite the senators' optimistic descriptions of a deal, the House negotiators didn't show up for a subsequent meeting with their Senate counterparts. This could mean nothing more than the need for House Dems to be "briefed" on the deal, as one Democratic senator said, but that in itself is telling -- the senators went public with a plan without fully informing the House.)
Glenn Thrushh over at Politico reports the same as well:
Conference delayed -- for House briefing
The Senate stimulus conferees gathered for their open-press conference committee meeting just now -- but Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) just postponed -- saying, kind of amazingly, that the House leadership had yet to be "briefed" on the details.