WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- With the Christmas recess approaching, both the Bush White House and Congress are quietly mulling over their political exit strategies should they have to leave Washington without agreement on an stimulus plan that would help jumpstart the floundering economy.
Mostly that strategy has been to shift the blame to the other guy.
"What really this comes down to now is leadership, particularly in the Senate. After all, if the House of Representatives was able to pass a stimulus, why can't the Senate? So it still remains to be seen whether or not the Senate will decide to take action," said White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in his afternoon briefing with reporters.
The White House says it is unclear why the Senate leadership has not brought the proposal to a vote since it was clear that support existed for passage. On the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, it had appeared that negotiators were close to a deal Thursday that would break the impasse, but Senate Democrats were sticking to their guns on expanded unemployment insurance and health benefits for displaced workers, saying they had "no other option but to hang tough in making sure that they (the workers) get the care and attention they need."
Negotiators had met again Wednesday night to try to hammer out something they could take to the president.
At issue are the alternatives swirling around Capitol Hill to the $100 billion version of the economic stimulus bill approved in October by the U.S. House of Representatives and backed by the White House. That version has four key provisions. It would repeal the corporate alternative minimum tax, cut the 27 percent income tax rate to 25 percent in 2002 rather than 2006, and allow greater business equipment purchase write-offs. It also would provide tax rebates for low-income workers.
Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., detailed what features he wanted in the bill: an increase in unemployment compensation and eligibility for unemployment compensation for both part-time workers and late hires; help for states to pay for health care and the ability to help unemployed workers to pay for their own health care.
"Now we are willing to make it a credit, which is a Republican proposal, as well," Daschle said. "But nonetheless, those four factors would have to be part of any package in order for me to even consider taking some of the tax proposals to the caucus. This is really a benefits-vs.-tax question. We can continue to look at ways with which to deal with the tax reduction, but the full benefits package has to be part of it," Daschle said.
The president stepped in for a Tuesday meeting with a bipartisan group of senators who had what the White House considered a palatable plan. The bipartisan version by GOP moderates Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, and Sen. John Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat, apparently wasn't enough for Democrats.
The president embraced the idea to expand unemployment benefits for workers displaced since March 15, to allow tax credits that can be used to purchase health insurance on the open market, and to pare the 27 percent income tax rate to 25 percent. The proposal does not include a corporate alternative minimum tax. It also dropped the trigger providing displaced workers with expanded benefits in states with a 30 percent hike in unemployment. But for Senate Democrats it appeared not to be enough.
House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., on Thursday said the current unemployment benefit system is outdated, favoring long-term, full-time, higher-wage workers and failing to meet the critical needs of low-wage, temporary workers. Gephardt resorted to personal appeals, asking the American public to write and e-mail lawmakers telling them their personal stories of economic hardship.
"Tell us your stories so that we can act on this issue," Gephardt said.
As alternative compromises were brought to the table to foster quicker passage, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, wanted to repeal the minimum tax while Daschle supported a plan by Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., for a one-month payroll tax holiday.
Snowe feared financial markets may have already factored in the promise of a stimulus package into their outlook. Exactly what impact that would have was hard to predict, her aides said. Snowe also thinks the version she and other GOP and Democratic moderates took to the president was a foundation for a final bill. Snowe believes the White House has come a long way from threatening a veto on health care provisions and hopes that the Democrats would also move close to the center, according to her aides.
The White House pointed out that since the president first proposed the stimulus package, almost 800,000 people have lost their jobs. The administration said it was not concerned with politics, but rather, with getting those people back to work.
