New Stimulus Package to Fund AWA

Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) have announced the Reid/Byrd Economic Recovery Act of 2008, a stimulus package of $56.2 billion. The bill "extend[s] unemployment insurance benefits for seven weeks and provide[s] money for a range of other concerns," including funding for the Adam Walsh Act. From Politico:

$490 million is included for Byrne grants, and $776 million is provided for border facility construction and other homeland security infrastructure. $50 million is included to hire 150 new Deputy U.S. Marshals to enforce the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act and apprehend fugitive sex offenders who threaten our children.

I really have no idea how Congress can say with a straight face that funding the AWA will stimulate the economy.

Comments

[eAdvocate]

A closer look at everything this "Stimulus" package covers (dozens of topics) indicates, to me, a bailout of the 110th Congress. Contains bills that otherwise have been held, in this or that committee, so they tucked them into this stimulus bill to get them passed or funded.

[Dave]

Not to mention the quiet fact that just before this $700B bailout was proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson, Congress passed a $650B defense budget, one of the largest in recent history. Where in the hell are they going to get the money for all this when the dollar is weakening, the housing bubble continues to collapse, and Congress wants to continue to promote a credit/debt based economy directly tied to an ever dwindling reserve of energy?

It should come as no shock that this is being presented now at the gates of a major election. However, there is no way this stimulus package can pass and be funded without sinking the country further into an already enormous hole of debt. What we need is strong, rational leadership and we need it right now. Of course, this is America, where what we need and what we get are almost always mutually exclusive.

God help us all.

[David Hess]

This is just a political ploy. The Senate Republicans do not want to vote for extended unemployment benefits. They are being put in a position that to defeat it, they must vote against funding of the AWA.