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DEL.ICIO.USObama’s economic stimulus package and the Atlanta Rotary Club
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bargaining over a new economic stimulus bill, now in the hands of the U.S. Senate, began in Washington over the weekend.
And continued over lunch at the Atlanta Rotary Club.
The featured speaker was Johnny Isakson, who has made a $15,000 home purchase tax credit as his first requirement for his support — and Democrats do want a bipartisan showing this round.
“There are not any votes to pass the House stimulus. We’re starting over,” Isakson told reporters who cornered him before his speech. “It has some of the House stuff in it, but not much. It’s totally different.”
Georgia’s junior senator said inclusion of his plan in the stimulus — currently there’s only a $7,500 tax credit that applies only to the purchase of homes that have been foreclosed or are in default — would be “a step in the right direction.
“But I haven’t offered that to be leverage in terms of what I’ll do,” Isakson said. “There are other things that need to be changed as well. But no housing tax credit — under no circumstances would I be supporting it.”
Fortunately, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York had said only 24 hours before that he was enthralled with Isakson’s idea. “That’s something that we look favorably upon,” said Schumer in this clip from CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
From the Rotary rostrum, Isakson pronounced himself “delighted” by the mention. But he continued a sales pitch that — if he could control a nagging cough — was to be repeated this evening on the U.S. Senate floor.
“The housing market led us into this. It will lead us out of it,” he said. “One in five houses in America is underwater, meaning more is owed on it than it is worth. One in 10 houses in America is either in foreclosure or in default, possibly becoming a foreclosure. Those are historic numbers.”
Isakson said reviving the housing industry isn’t the only answer. “But it’s the principal foundation,” he said.
Other things the senator wants to see: A change in the mark-to-market accounting for banks as demanded by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and spending only for items likely to benefit the economy.
Here’s a hint to his friends at the state Capitol: He doesn’t want any big increase in Medicaid funding, even though it might plug a very large hole in the Georgia state budget.
Isakson also made his pitch for an independent, bipartisan investigation into the ’08 Crash — and added his own confession:
“We’ve got to have a non-partisan, honest — patently honest — forensic audit of the financial system of the United States of America and those who regulate it. What we are dealing with is in part self-inflicted.
“I’ll be the first to volunteer [to take] some of the blame. In 1999, I voted for the repeal of Glass Steagall and the [Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act].
“I did so because I thought it was the right thing to do. But it allowed an awful lot of vertical integration in financial services. It allowed banks to do things they couldn’t do before, and insurance companies to do things they couldn’t do before. And I think it could have been the precursor of some of the difficulties we have on Wall Street.”
After his speech, a fresh set of eyes wondered at something Isakson said during the Q&A session — about the nasty little fight that sprang up last week over a stretch of Norfolk Southern rail line that Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin had long had her eye on for the Beltline.
The state Department of Transportation had put a hold on it, saying that — some day — the line might be needed for a larger project.
The Rotary questioner asked Isakson if he planned to get involved. The senator replied that he already had.
“Shirley’s office called me on Thursday. And I called Norfolk Southern, I talked to the National Transportation Board, I talked to the state DOT, and said, ‘Look, a U.S. senator should not pick up the phone and tell you want to do. However…..”
A meeting of all parties has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Fresh Eyes noted how strange it was, to call upon a U.S. senator to intervene in a backyard squabble. But it’s not, not really.
In some states, this type of negotiation might indeed occur at the gubernatorial level, or elsewhere. But in Georgia, and especially in metro Atlanta, Isakson has always served as the interlocutor for Democrats trying to get into Republican heads, and vice versa.
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Comments
By Chuck
February 2, 2009 9:15 PM | Link to this
I agree an full audit is necessary. If nothing else we will learn our errors and how to overcome them.
By BW
February 2, 2009 9:44 PM | Link to this
What bothers me is the the fact that Isakson and others when the GOP was in complete control never seen it coming? They now come up with all kinds of helpful idea’s to derail anything Obama’s attempting to do. Pretty sad losers.
By Burroughston Broch
February 2, 2009 10:27 PM | Link to this
BW conveniently fails to mention that the Democrats have been in control of both houses of Congress since January 2007. They get no free pass in the blame game.
By BW
February 3, 2009 2:11 AM | Link to this
With a one vote majority in the Senate, most of Bills were tied up by the GOP members. Remember towards the end of the session, the GOP demanded concessions from G. Bush and the Democratics to protect banks and Wall Street.
Now you know it takes 60 Senators to bring a Bill to the floor, with Democratics being 9 votes short, how can anyone win with the games the Republicans played?
How can anyone play the tune, “we’re Sorry Now”, after you turn your backs on your own parties President to save Wall Street?
By GA VALUES
February 3, 2009 10:21 AM | Link to this
Glad to see that the AJC has joined the Isakson re-election campaign.