The Senate Republican Policy Committee focus on what Works, the way forward to fix our economy

The Republican Policy Committee discussed the outlook of America’s economy and examined testimonies from Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of DHE Consulting LLC, Alan Viard, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and Kevin Hasset, director of economic policy studies.

“The difficulties facing the U.S economy stem from three different forces: 1, dramatic and financial crises 2, a severe recession 3, a dramatic need to build household wealth.” Holtz-Eakin stated.

Senator John McCain stated that the main cause for the financial crisis is the situation due to the housing market. America needs to stabilize home values to be able to get the economy back on the right track.

Fiscal stimulus was a term that Viard used when describing a future economic outlook. Fiscal stimulus refers to tax and spending policies that increase public and private spending at a given level of the interest rate. Viard emphasized the importance of timing, when using fiscal stimulus.

“Timing incentives can be adopted to reward spending during the duration of the recession. A prime example is a tax incentive that applies only to investment during a specified time period.” Viard said.

Another resolution that was brought up by Hasset was a permanent tax cut for low income employees. He explained that this could be one of many long term solutions that will help America’s economy.

Shades of green: Obama, McCain advisors on energy policy

The energy policies of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) were discussed at a conference hosted by the National Journal. In addition, panelists discussed their views of the political climate for legislative action in the coming congress.

Elgie Holstein, senior adviser to the Obama Campaign on energy, stated that both McCain and Obama have endorsed a cap and trade approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, believing it to be the most economically friendly way to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions limitations that the campaign is hoping will become a part of national policy. However, the candidates differ in how aggressive they plan to be. Obama hopes to see a reduction of 80 percent below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while McCain would aim for a 60 percent reduction. In addition, Obama plans to auction off credits to companies that choose to continue polluting. Money from these auctions would be used to develop clean-energy technologies and underwrite the labor costs of transitioning to this new technology. McCain would not charge for these pollution credits, though would consider following a plan similar to Obama's years from now.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, domestic policy adviser to the McCain campaign, described McCain's intention of focusing on the vulnerabilities to our economy, environment and national security that our nation's reliance on foreign oil has caused. Holtz-Eakin stated that this reliance puts us at the mercy of leaders who do not share the same values as the United States, including Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez. As such, McCain advocates new oil and gas development on US shores, though not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). He also favors research into new technologies to ease this dependence. Conversely, Obama is opposed to offshore exploration, favoring higher auto emissions standards along with a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

Despite their different policy preferences, Holstein noted that for the first time both Democrats and Republicans have acknowledged that environmental issues can no longer be ignored.