Hoyer, other representatives urge union leaders to vote Democratic

The Building and Construction Trades Department held the first of its three-day 100th annual Legislative Conference with over 3,000 union leaders from around the country. President Mark Ayers addressed the crowd and introduced guest speakers, urging the audience to support whichever Democratic candidate becomes the presidential nominee and ignore the “shameless distortions, falsehoods, and fear-mongering” of the “conservative political playbook.” He claimed that “the America we know and love, the America we have and will defend, deserves better than John McCain.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called on unions to organize for the benefit of the American middle class, citing that union membership is at its lowest since the Great Depression. He advocated inclusion of prevailing wage provisions in the Davis Bacon Act, and emphasized his approval for Congress’s recent $168 billion economic stimulus package but said he would push for more action if it proved inadequate. He also asked the crowd to stand up if they felt they were better off than they were seven years ago, and no one stood. On this note, he urged the crowd to work together to elect a candidate who would work for change.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) also addressed the crowd, and claimed that “this administration has screwed American laborers” and said that she voted against the economic stimulus package because she did not believe it was an adequate solution. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) spoke to the crowd about the need to cross party lines in order to support unions and laborers.

White House Gaggle

January 29, 2008
Briefer: Tony Fratto
By: Ellen Ratner

Schedule:

The President had his normal briefings. This morning he has an interview with Morton Kondracke. Then he will go to Baltimore to make remarks on faith based program at the Jericho Program. This is the seventh anniversary of the President's Faith Based Program. Later he will sign the Executive Order on earmarks that he announced during his State of the Union Address last night. Then he will meet with the Joint Chiefs and Combatant Commanders. This is an annual meeting. A list of participants will be coming from the White House later in the day. The House will vote on HR 5140, the Economic Stimulus bill. On Wednesday the President will fly to California and will discuss Free Trade. On Thursday he will go to Las Vegas and will discuss FISA and the Global War on Terror. On Friday he will go to Kansas City. Data will be available on jobs on Friday.

Financial/Budget Package:

In terms of an economic stimulus the White House said that the solution worked out between the Congress and the Administration will provide immediate tax relief and be large enough to make a difference. The budget will be presented on February 4th. The President will deliver a package that creates a budget surplus by 2012.

FISA:

The President will veto a thirty day extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . When asked why the White House said they needed FISA and could not get a warrant. White House Spokesman Tony Fratto responded that the Senate had six months to pass a bill.

Iraq and North Korea:

Asked why the President did not mention North Korea in the State of the Union Speech, Tony said that there could be a whole briefing on things that were not mentioned in the speech. In terms of Iraq, the President did say that twenty thousand troops would be leaving Iraq by the end of 2008 this is not the entire surge force which added 30 thousand troops to Iraq.

Presidential Economic Advisors speak at the New America Foundation

Ellen Ratner reported from the New America Foundation where advisors to the various presidential campaigns spoke on the state of the economy. Advisors to John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain spoke about their candidates and economic stimulus. 

Leo Hindery, the managing director of InterMedia Partners L.P., is the senior economic advisor to John Edwards. Hindery said that the United States can't educate or invest our way our of the current economic crisis. He cautioned that trade must be looked at as a fairness issue. Hindery said that a long-term plan for economic growth shouldn't be called a stimulus. He addressed several of the  problems he sees with the current discussion on the economy. He said that the Federal Reserve is not the entity that should be developing legislation and pointed out that this is not a sub-prime mortgage problem. He said that we have a "pervasive consumer debt problem" and noted the $7 trillion in consumer debt and without war accounting accounting the federal debt has been raised by $4 trillion. 

Austan Goolsbee is a senior economic advisor for Barack Obama. Goolsbee gave an overall economic assessment. He said that we have inadequate health insurance and that college has become less affordable and that the bottom 75 percent of earners have not seen income growth. He also mentioned the personal savings rate as problematic. Goolsbee said that Barack Obama has an iPod version of the government: easy to use. He spoke about the $200-$400 billion in mortgage losses and cautioned that bailing out financial institutions should be a last resort. On the Federal Reserve Goolsbee observed that the Fed is in a tight spot and that if we cut interest rates the value of the dollar goes down and a weak dollar is not good for the U.S. economy overall. The economic advisor to Obama also looked to history sighting that typically recessions have lasted 11 months since World War II. His suggestion for an immediate solution is to distribute rebates from payroll and put it into social security payments. He said that a solution "must be right now" without applications to fill out and speed the money out the door.  


Kevin Hassett is a senior advisor to John McCain and the Director of Economic Policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. His statements on the state of the economy began with the observation that the U.S. government is $50 to $60 trillion dollars short of obligations like social security. He said that the minute the markets start to think that the U.S. doesn't have it's house in order the situation could get worse. Hassett said that John McCain wants to restore the comprehensiveness of corporations. His other suggestions were to have compromise legislation immediately and make business measures in that legislation retroactive. He cautioned that to put forth a stimulus package and later raise taxes would "not be a good idea."  He said that in the long history of stimulus packages they don't work expect for the last one when the government mailed money to people and it was associated with permanent tax cuts. He said that McCain believes in getting government out of the way and letting infrastructure happen without lots of regulation. 

Gary Gensler is a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton and a former Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance and the former Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Financial Markets. He spoke about health care costs as well saying that they are up while the American middle class has lost up to $2 million in foreclosure filings. He said that the Clinton campaign is focused on housing, energy and jobs. In terms of the economic stimulus he said that it is critical that the government act fast and put out a $110 billion package. Clinton outlines such a plan as $40 billion in tax rebates, $30 billion in energy costs, $10 billion in unemployment insurance, $30 billion in housing via state authorities. He said that if you raise taxes of those making $250,000 a year or higher than you still have a great economy. He spoke about the difference between a stimulus package that gets spent and a money that gets put toward paying down debt. $40 billion in immediate energy costs is something the states could do right now, he said. He also mentioned that housing money would take a bit longer to have an effect. 

President George W. Bush speaks about the economy

President Bush laid out his principles for framing an economic stimulus package today from the Roosevelt room in the White House. “Our economy has a solid foundation, but there are areas of concern,” he said. His speech outlined some broader principles for economic growth legislation, but did not mention specific components beyond tax relief.

The president pointed out that both consumer spending and jobs are growing but at a very slow rate. He also acknowledged that other sectors like housing are declining.

He said that his advisors and other outside experts expect slow growth, but “there is a risk of a downturn.” The White House has been careful not to use the word “recession” often when speaking about the economic situation.

Among his principles Bush noted that the economic stimulus package must be large enough to affect an economy as large as the U.S. He recommended tax relief amounting to about 1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, or about $145 billion in relief. Bush called for "broad based tax relief" targeted to business and consumer spending. He cautioned against new taxes and spending project, which are being discussed by congressional Democrats.

Tax incentives for businesses must encourage businesses “to make major investments in their enterprises this year,” Bush said.

He also called for “direct and rapid income tax relief” in the form of tax rebates to the American people. He noted that taxpayers can spend this check any way they want, giving examples of paying bills and fueling up. He said that this infusion of cash into the hands of consumers should increase spending.

The president called on Congress to resolve two versions of legislation regarding the Federal Housing Administration and get that bill to his desk as quickly as possible.

Bush said that his phone call with Treasury Secretary Paulson and congressional leadership yesterday was encouraging and led him to believe that economic stimulus could be passed quickly with bipartisan support. He was quick to point out that while the administration has taken the subject of his tax cuts off the table for the discussion of a short term solution, the most pressing economic priority after a stimulus packaged is passed is making his those cuts permanent.

The president defended the market system while acknowledging that there are times when “swift and temporary actions” can insure that inevitable market adjustments do not become long-term down turns. Bush called a growth package “a shot in the arm to keep a fundamentally strong economy healthy.”

The Economists

Buzzword alert! A new vocabulary for a new year. Watch out for the three T's of economic stimulus. Timely, Targeted and Temporary. Lawrence Summers, Secretary of Treasury under the Clinton administration, testified before the Joint Economic Committee today and specified that any economic stimulus package passed by Congress would have to be passed quickly, have focused objectives, and last for a finite amount of time. Both the Joint Economic Chairman Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Mass) echoed Summers' recommendations. Later today House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) will give his input on the subject in a town hall meeting on Capitol Hill.



In a Pen and Pad session with reporters House Majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) "Clearly our country is challenged today with substantial slowdown in our economy," he said. "We want to address it quickly." Then he made a reference Lawrence Summers' testimony and later incorporated the three T's. Hoyer said that what we do, ought to be short term. He is going to meet with Republican House leadership today to act quickly, and Hoyer believes that they can sign a bill in the next 30 days to create a stimulus. When asked what he would tell the public, "You tell the American people there is a problem and you need to address it." Though he admitted, "The housing issue is not going to be solved by a stimulus package."

Hoyer said that the goal is infusion of dollars in people's hands that need it. The subject of Paygo (Pay As You Go) came up, which prompted Hoyer to say that any economic stimulus should not increase the ever-growing deficit. Hoyer made a reference to the Clinton Administration saying, "People were much better off eight years ago than they are today. The country was much better off eight years ago than it was today." Hoyer also said he thought simply undoing Bush tax cuts will not have an effect.

But in the bipartisanship that usually blossoms in the beginning of the session (only to wither on the branch by midterm) was evident in Hoyer's outlook. "We are very hopeful in discussions with administration," Hoyer said in reference to his meetings with Bush economic advisors. He said that his meeting Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) was an unusual show of bipartisanship. He said that there is general agreement that Congress should act quickly and that there is a "risk" of recession, though it is debated whether or not the U.S. economy is already in or headed toward a recession. For now Hoyer said he will leave everything on the table, "the goal no matter what is to get money to people who need it and will spend it."