GOP governors: Stimulus money may hurt in long run

"Offensive" or "Just A Cartoon?"

The cartoon depicts two police officers – one with his smoking gun drawn – standing over what appears to be a dead chimpanzee in a pool of blood. One officer says to the other: “Now they’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

The question: Are they referring to the dead chimp as the president of the United States?

Obama signs $787 billion stimulus plan into law (OBAMA DON'T DO IT!?)

President Obama today signed the $787 billion "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" into law. 

How Much Influence Does Limbaugh Have???

Limbaugh urged the Senate to not support the stimulus package. “Senate Republicans need to understand this is not about me,” he wrote in an email. “It is about them, about intimidating them, especially after the show of unity in House. It is about the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is an opportunity for Republicans to redefine themselves after a few years of wandering aimlessly looking for a ‘brand’ and identity,” said Limbaugh.

President-Elect Barack Obama Details Tax Cuts

House to vote on stimulus after inauguration, Pelosi says

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that House committees will begin action on President-elect Barack Obama's proposed economic recovery package in the next couple of weeks, with a vote in the full House slated for the week after Obama's inauguration.

Obama will take office January 20.

If that schedule slips, Pelosi, D-California, pledged to cancel the House's planned weeklong break in mid-February for Presidents Day.

"We are not going home without an economic recovery package," Pelosi said.

Pelosi said Obama's plan has broad public support "almost sight unseen," citing a poll from Politico that says 79 percent of Americans support the president-elect's plan.

A senior Pelosi aide said discussions about the details are ongoing between the Obama transition team and key leaders. The Ways and Means Committee will focus on the tax piece, approximately $300 billion in tax cuts.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/08/pelosi.stimulus/index.html#cnnSTCText

Details of Obama's Stimulus Package

US president-elect Barack Obama is expected to hammer out with congressional leaders final details for a massive stimulus package designed to revive the country's reeling economy.

The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan'' is expected to cost between $750 billion (1.5 trillion) and $1 trillion, and Obama has said it would be aimed to "create or save'' three million jobs by 2011.

Democratic lawmakers are optimistic the package will be approved in Congress by early February, just weeks after Mr Obama moves into the White House on January 20.
But top Republicans have called for more time and public hearings before voting on the bill.

The tentative spending proposals include:

• Massive infrastructure and public works projects, with money for roads, mass transit, bridges and schools, projects that Mr Obama has called "shovel ready.''

• A portion of a middle class tax cut that will become part of a permanent tax cut in the upcoming budget: immediate tax relief of some $500 for individuals and $1000 for couples.

•Doubling production of renewable energy through spending and tax incentives.

• Developing a national energy grid for harnessing and distributing power derived from water, wind and other alternative energy sources.

• Cash for states facing revenue shortfalls.

• Improving health care technology to bolster productivity and reduce bureaucratic costs.

• Extending part-time workers' unemployment compensation - a proposal Republican lawmakers have blocked in the past.

• Subsidizing employer expenses to temporarily continue health insurance coverage for laid-off and retired workers and their dependents.

The plan may also enable workers laid-off from jobs without insurance benefits to become eligible for Medicaid coverage.

Criticisms of Obama's Stimulus Package