Economic plan: How stimulating is it?

The Senate moved closer on Saturday to approval of a giant economic stimulus plan. That was good news for a president who didn’t hear a lot of it last week. Two key Obama appointees had to withdraw for accidentally cheating on their taxes, forcing the president to apologize for mismanaging the selection process. And on Friday, the government reported that an additional 598,000 jobs disappeared in January and the jobless rate climbed to 7.6 percent.

HOUSE VS. SENATE

Key differences

The House bill emphasizes helping states and cities avoid service cuts and employee layoffs. The Senate bill focuses more heavily on tax cuts.

Total cost

Senate: $827 billion

House: $820 billion

Energy

Senate: $40 billion for efficiency and renewable energy programs; includes $2.9 billion to weatherize homes; $11 billion for a “smart electricity grid” to reduce waste.

House: $28.4 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs; includes $6.2 billion to weatherize homes; $11 billion to fund smart grid.

Infrastructure

Senate: $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair; $11.5 billion for mass transit and rail projects; $6.4 billion for clean water projects.

House: $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair; $12 billion for mass transit; $31 billion to build and repair federal buildings.

State aid

Senate: $39 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in education aid; $14 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $400 to $5,250; $1.1 billion for Head Start.

House: About $79 billion in aid to states and school districts; $21 billion for school modernization; $16 billion to lift maximum Pell Grant by $500 to $5,350; $2 billion for Head Start.

New tax credits

Senate: $140 billion for tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per family in 2009 and 2010. Individuals making $75,000 or more and couples making $150,000 or more would receive reduced amounts.

House: $145 billion for the same tax credit; income limits begin at $70,000 and $140,000 for couples.

Alternative minimum tax

Senate: $70 billion to spare 24 million taxpayers from being hit with the AMT in 2009.

House: No provision. House members said the AMT should be dealt with in the normal course of Congress’ business and not as part of the stimulus plan.

Auto sales

Senate: $11 billion to make interest payments deductible on most auto loans.

House: No provision. The Washington Post reported Saturday that House Democrats may seek to cut this part of the bill.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Senate votes Monday on whether to end debate on the bill; the Democrats need 60 votes to do that, and they appeared on Saturday to have them. Senators would then vote on the measure itself at noon Tuesday.

PLATINUM CARD, SILVER SCREEN

The secret of comedy timing is … Er, is timing. “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” a movie about a New York City girl addicted to shopping and drowning in debt, opens nationwide on Friday. Timing.

THIS WEEK FOR OBAMA

Monday: News conference at 8 p.m., his first.

Earlier that day, he travels to Elkhart, Ind., for a town hall meeting on the stimulus plan.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlines new plans for the $700 billion financial rescue, which is separate from the stimulus package.

Tuesday: Obama goes to Fort Myers, Fla., for another town hall.

Thursday: He travels to Springfield, Ill., to speak at a commemoration of Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

INTERESTING, IF NOT STIMULATING, FACT

The IRS estimates that 17% of taxpayers don’t pay all they owe, robbing the Treasury of $290 million a year. Part of it is that IRS audits, while scary, are exceedingly rare. And not only that: Half of the taxpayers who get audited have annual incomes of less than $25,000

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

Political analyst Charlie Cook writes that Obama’s rough week led him “to an important fork in the road. Down one path is the possibility of Obama’s administration being perceived as incompetent and setting a modern record for shortest honeymoon. Down the other is the opportunity … of his being the successful transformational presidency that his backers fervently pray for. If Obama plays his own game, he can win.”

BRING IT ON HOME

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) masterminded a $15,000 tax credit for anyone who buys a home for one year. The Senate passed Isakson’s measure, which would cost about $35.5 billion, by unanimous vote. The Washington Post said House Democrats may try to cut the proposal.

VERBAL STIMULI

“Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it’s received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can’t afford to make ‘perfect’ the enemy of the absolutely necessary.”

—- From President Barack Obama’s weekly radio address

“I tell you, the economy is so bad, even people who have nothing to do with the Obama administration aren’t paying their taxes.”

—- Jay Leno

A quick word to anyone out there who wants to bring change and hope to a deeply divided and suffering America: Pay your [expletive] taxes.

—- Jon Stewart

“If you believe this is a good process to spend $800 billion, we’re on different planets. We’re making this up as we go. If this is a good process, why are 16 senators meeting around the corner trying to figure out how to keep this thing from stinking?”

—- Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.)

“A bill that was meant to be timely, targeted and temporary has instead become a Trojan horse for pet projects and expanded government.”

—- Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

“Obama wants a different politics, but the system of a bill becoming a law hasn’t changed… . He may not yet understand the institutional checks and balances that limit a president’s salesmanship.”

—- Paul Light, public policy professor, New York University, on the House vote in which no Republicans voted for the stimulus package.

Sources for this report: Associated Press, New York Times, McClatchey Newspapers, Washington Post.