Nothing can stop Obama’s package from coming now. The final price tag is $780 billion, with some of the tax cuts that generated controversy on the left and not enough praise for the White House’s liking on the right noticeably absent. More from Politico:
Many details on the final package remain unavailable, but by scaling back the total cost to below the Senate and House passed packages, the administration hoped to gain some latitude as to where the final money would go. … 35 percent, or $276.1 billion, of the bill would be “pure” tax cuts. Included in the package is continued relief for middle and upper middle income taxpayers threatened by the Alternative Minimum Tax. And to make the numbers fit, an administration office said Obama’s signature “Making Work Pay” tax break would be scaled back to $400 for individuals and $800 for couples — down from $500 and $1000 respectively. … [T]he House appears to have preserved its higher 65 percent subsidy to help laid-off workers meet COBRA payments to maintain employer-provided health insurance; the Senate had proposed 50 percent. But the House agreed in turn to drop its proposal to increase Medicaid coverage to help lower income individuals face the same insurance dilemma and can’t afford to pay even a subsidized COBRA payment.
The stimulus plan is far from perfect, with not enough money allocated to infrastructure projects, and funding to aid the poor per usual getting lost in the scuffle. But if you believe the prognostications of America’s notable economists, an imperfect stimulus will be better than no stimulus at all. There’s also the chance that supplemental legislation will be pushed through Congress at a later time to improve upon some of the shakier aspects of the bill. Three weeks into its term, the Obama administration is on the cusp of a major political victory, if one that had to be fought on a nakedly partisan battleground.
