The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE NEED FOR A STIMULUS BILL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S398-S400 on Feb. 6, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE NEED FOR A STIMULUS BILL
Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, with the votes that have been cast this afternoon, we have once again shown the American people that we have put politics before their needs. Quite frankly, I think this body should be ashamed that we could not rise above our party differences and give the American people a stimulus package that will help secure our economy, put people back to work and respond to the human suffering that is occurring as a result of the recession.
Too often, it seems to me, we spend more time trying to score political points than addressing the needs of real people. And I can tell you, there are real needs in the State of Ohio. Despite claims that an economic turn around is just around the corner, the citizens of my State are still suffering the effects of this recession. Many more are ``shaking in their boots,'' wondering if they are going to be laid-
off and the next to join the unemployment line.
Since the first week of December, we have had 320 companies in Ohio announce their intention to lay-off workers, affecting nearly 70,000 people.
Right now, we have some 191,000 people receiving unemployment benefits, and each week, thousands file for initial benefits.
Also each week, around 3,000 people exhaust their benefits without having found another job.
In 2001, initial unemployment claims in my state jumped by 41.5 percent compared to 2000--the highest since 1992.
While the U.S. Department of Commerce reported a two tenths of a percent increase in the economy in the fourth quarter, I consider it anemic economic growth, which is providing little benefit--if any to the men and women of Ohio.
We need robust growth, and a balanced stimulus package is critical to getting us there.
The President was right on target in his State of the Union address last week when he called for an economic stimulus. He did not advocate for a partisan stimulus measure, trying to maximize his political advantage, but rather he elected to press for the stimulus proposal that was initially proposed by the Senate Centrist Coalition.
I am a member of the Centrist Coalition, and I was proud to work with my colleagues Senators Snowe, Collins, Breaux, Miller, and Ben Nelson on a bipartisan measure that would be fair, would help stimulate the economy and would respond to basic human needs.
This proposal does not have everything I, the other members of the coalition, nor the President want. In fact, it includes items I might not necessarily support as freestanding legislation. However, this proposal is the embodiment of compromise, and this is how it should be in an evenly divided Senate. That is why I cannot believe that members of this Senate have allowed economic stimulus to fail.
If we are to have any progress this year, we must work together as our constituents elected us to do.
I voted in favor of cloture on both versions of the stimulus package, since I felt it necessary to move the process along and not demagogue the issue just to score a political victory. I had hoped to move something along to a conference committee.
I think if we all had simply agreed to the majority leader's stimulus package when he proposed it 2 weeks ago, we could have gone to conference with the House, hashed out our differences, and today we could possibly be voting on a compromise stimulus bill.
Conversely, if the majority leader had recognized the bipartisan nature of the Centrist Coalition package--crafted by members of his own party here in the Senate and passed by the House--we could possibly be at a bill signing ceremony today. However, the process has degenerated into a political fight.
The Senate could pass a stimulus bill. Senator Grassley proposed a very good compromise by offering the Centrist Coalition package, which should have been adopted because it gets the job done.
In fact, I believe if the Senate was given the opportunity to cast a straight ``up or down'' vote on the Grassley amendment, it would pass by a large margin since many in this Chamber actually want to pass a meaningful stimulus bill.
However, that is not the way things sometimes work around here, and the American people are the ones who suffer because they will not get the economic relief they need. In the end, the only person who got what he wanted was the majority leader. He did not want a bill, and he got his wish.
Still, I think the American people deserve to know what the Senate could have passed and what the Centrist Coalition package could have provided in the way of economic stimulus to illustrate the good policy that too often falls victim to partisan politics in this Chamber.
One thing the Centrist Coalition proposal would do is provide a real boost to roughly 38 million low-income workers who did not qualify for rebate checks last summer and fall. Those rebates would mean $13.5 billion would go into the pockets of those individuals to help them through these difficult times. And I am sure it would help stimulate the economy because they would likely spend that money rather than save it.
The Centrist Coalition package would also lower the marginal tax rate on individual income from 27\1/2\ percent down to 25 percent. That means single people who make between $28,000 and $68,000 a year, and married couples who make between $47,000 and $113,000 a year would find additional money in their pockets. About one-third of the taxpayers in this nation, 36 million people, would benefit with these rate reductions.
Add the 38 million beneficiaries of the rebate checks, and the 36 million who would benefit from the reduction in marginal rates, and the Centrist Coalition package would help a majority of the roughly 100 million American households that file taxes.
The thing I would really like to concentrate on is the part of this package that deals with health care. When we got started debating the stimulus package, the House passed a package that had something like $3 billion for health care. Likewise, the President's package also had $3 billion. The Democratic Finance Committee proposal was $16.7 billion. At the end of the day, the Centrist Coalition and White House compromise package had $21 billion in it for dislocated workers' health care, and money for the States for national emergency grants, including
$4 billion to the States for Medicaid funding. This is a tremendous amount of help for the needy.
The Centrist Coalition proposal would also assist displaced workers by providing an extension of 13 weeks of unemployment benefits--
benefits that would be available to those who became unemployed between March 15, 2001, and December 31st of this year. An estimated 3 million unemployed workers would qualify for benefits averaging about $230 a week. Those extended benefits would be 100-percent federally funded at a cost of about $10 billion to the Federal Government, so States would not have to pick up the tab.
The bill would allow states to accelerate the transfer of $9 billion from State unemployment trust funds so they could distribute that money earlier than now possible. This transfer of money, which already belongs to the states, would help state treasuries, which are in dire straits today.
With respect to health care benefits, the Centrist Coalition and White House compromise proposal would provide $19 billion in health care assistance for all dislocated workers who are eligible for unemployment insurance with a refundable, advanceable tax credit for the purchase of health insurance--not just individuals who are eligible for COBRA coverage. This is an important distinction since the credit is available to unemployed people who do not have access to coverage through COBRA, since their employers did not provide health insurance or their employer went out of business. Under this bill, these individuals would have been able to get a 60-percent subsidy of their health insurance costs without any cap on the dollar amount of subsidy.
The proposal also would include reforms to ensure that people have access to health insurance coverage in the individual market. If a person has 12 months of employer-sponsored coverage, rather than 18 months as under the current law, health insurers are required to issue a policy and not impose any preexisting condition exclusion.
The Centrist and White House proposal also includes $4 billion in enhanced national emergency grants for the States which Governors could use to help all workers--not just those eligible for the tax credit. They could use this to pay for health insurance in both public and private plans. In other words, we would be paying $4 billion out to the States so they can reach out and help people in their respective States who are not covered by some of the particular provisions in the stimulus package.
The Centrist Coalition package would also provide a $4.6 billion, one-time grant to assist States with their Medicaid programs. Our States are in deep budgetary trouble because, unlike the Federal Government, they have to balance their budgets every year. The money isn't there for them to take care of the many needs they face. This
$4.6 billion grant would go out to the States to help them provide Medicaid for the neediest Americans. In many States, they are going to cut Medicaid payments because they simply do not have the money since their State treasuries are in such deep financial trouble.
All in all, I believe the Centrist Coalition and White House compromise package was a good proposal, one that should have passed easily in the Senate before Christmas and which should have easily passed today.
There are a lot of concerned Americans, men and women who have lost their jobs, and who do not know where they are going to get health care for themselves and their families. We have an obligation to help. At the very least, we have provided an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits to our constituents who are out of work. It is only a fraction of what we should have done, but it will give some assistance to those who need it. Still, I believe we must address our unfinished business.
I believe that there is still time to set aside our differences, put the needs of the American people ahead of politics and pass the Centrist Coalition proposal. It is fair, it is balanced and it is bipartisan and I believe it is the best thing we can do to restores people's faith in the economy and restore people's faith that we do care about them.
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