Stimulus projects draw ire, become trading chips?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama may yet win skeptical Republicans in the U.S. Congress over to his economic stimulus plan if he and fellow Democrats abandon some pet projects.
Obama would like to signal he is working for all Americans with a show of bipartisan unity when the Senate votes later this month. No Republican backed the plan that passed the House of Representatives last Wednesday.
Republicans accuse the Democrats, who control both houses, of loading up on projects known as "pork" that curry favor with constituents but which they say will not stop the slide in the U.S. economy after 13 months of recession.
Republicans have blasted the $800 billion to $900 billion package for such programs as $335 million to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and $25 million to rehabilitate trails for all-terrain vehicles. They prefer the money go into more tax cuts.
"I hope that at some point the White House will exercise adult supervision here ... right now it's nothing but a huge spending package," said Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican.
Democrats may woo Republicans by offering up projects as bargaining chips, but Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor, said even then a majority of Republicans will end up opposing the final package.
"In the end, the bill won't be all that clean, and (will) justify a 'no' vote," Sabato said.
Democrats already have cut two provisions in the House bill passed -- $200 million to fix up the National Mall and millions for family planning that Republicans said would fund contraceptives.
The No. 2 Republican in the Senate, Jon Kyl of Arizona, said on Sunday he saw support for the stimulus bill eroding and "major structural changes" were needed to win Republican support.
"You have to start from scratch and reconstruct this," Kyl told "Fox News Sunday."
JOBS?
Tom Schatz, president of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, said many projects in the bill would modernize government facilities but not create long-term, private-sector jobs.
Republicans have been poring over the 647-page, $819 billion House bill and the $887 billion measure proposed in the Senate to expose spending they say will do little to create jobs and spur economic growth.
In addition to the National Mall project, they highlight such programs as $34 million to remodel the Commerce Department's headquarters and up to $150 million to help producers of livestock, honey bees and farm-raised fish.
The stimulus was originally crafted to have about $275 billion in tax breaks and some $550 billion in spending. Obama's administration has indicated a willingness to modify the package. Continued...
