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Hoyer: Stimulus stalemate could scuttle lame-duck |
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By Jared Allen
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Posted: 11/07/08 01:18 PM [ET] |
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Friday cast doubt on a lame-duck session, saying one might not be held if there’s no deal with the White House on a stimulus.
If there’s no deal, House leaders may scuttle everything but the reorganizing session planned for the week leading up to Thanksgiving, Hoyer told a group of reporters.
“Clearly there’s no point in us doing something if the administration is going to take the position that they’re not going to sign something,” Hoyer said.
The impetus for a stimulus seemed to grow Friday with a jobs report showing unemployment rising to 6.5 percent. Business groups have also called for a stimulus, which they say should include help for a U.S. automobile industry increasingly in dire straits.
But Hoyer said talks with leaders in the Senate and the White House on a stimulus have failed to make headway.
“We still don’t have any agreement to do that,” Hoyer said.
Calling Congress back for a lame-duck without stimulus legislation that can make it into law isn’t “particularly useful,” Hoyer said.
At the same time, the majority leader did say that if legislation is deemed necessary for the auto industry, such legislation in and of itself “could be enough” to warrant a lame-duck.
Democrats have been crafting a stimulus bill that will likely take the form of tens of billions — if not hundreds of billions — of dollars in unemployment insurance benefits, food stamps, aid to the states in the form of Medicare and Medicaid payments and transportation and infrastructure spending. The Bush administration has balked at some of these proposals, and Hoyer’s comments could pressure the White House into offering concessions.
Before adjourning for the elections, the House passed a $60 billion stimulus bill but a Senate version went down to defeat. In October, House Democrats began renewing their calls for a stimulus bill, but some estimates had put the new price tag at $300 billion thanks to additions such as direct Treasury checks. The new bill seems to working its way back toward the $50 billion-$100 billion range.
Democratic leadership did not have a delegate at the table of Obama’s economic meeting today, but Hoyer said Obama’s transition team is in regular contact with congressional leaders over a multitude of issues, including the top priority for both Obama and Congress — the economy.
“I don’t expect there to be too much difficulty,” Hoyer said.
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