Obama Proposes New Economic Recovery Measures

By Ravi Bhatia – Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama discussed his administration’s plans to continue accelerating economic recovery Tuesday at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. Obama suggested that growth will occur through tax cuts and incentives for small businesses, continued investment in American infrastructure, and job creations through clean energy investments.

The measures, at least in part, would be funded by money saved from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a program which allowed the U.S. government to purchase assets and equity from troubled financial institutions in order to trigger economic growth after the financial collapse. Administration officials say TARP cost about $200 billion less than expected.

“We are going to wind down [TARP],” Obama said. “There has never been a less loved or more necessary program. It was flawed… but today has served its original purpose and at a much lower cost.”

["This] gives us a chance to pay down the deficit faster than we thought possible and to shift funds that would have gone to help the banks on Wall Street to help create jobs on Main Street,” Obama added.

However, senior administration officials noted that the administration has not determined the minimum costs of the proposed programs, and at a press conference this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Obama’s announcement indicates a “Stimulus 2,” being paid for with TARP money that Boehner says, “was to go to the deficit.” Boehner said the idea of spending money that was intended to be in excess, is “repulsive.”

Obama said that the programs would eliminate a tax on capital gains from new investments in small business stock for one year and expand on the 75 percent exclusion in the Recovery Act. The small business measures would also create a tax cut for small businesses to encourage new hiring next year, and would continue giving companies enhanced expensing provisions through 2010, allowing them to instantly expense up to $250,000 of qualified investments.

Besides investments in bridges, roads and infrastructure, the new economic programs could provide new incentives for consumers who invest in energy efficient retrofits for their homes.

Following the President's speech, top Economic Adviser Christina Romer and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told reporters during a conference call briefing that the measures align with the administration's continuing plans to end the recession.

“This really is an evolution,” Romer said. “We had done important actions early in the administration to heal the economy...the Financial Stability Plan, the Recovery Act (ARRA), our housing program.”

Romer added that as indicated in Obama’s speech, today’s announcement of tapping into TARP funds isn’t “a sum total of everything that we are considering.” The economic advisor said congressionally extending ARRA provisions is also being considered.

As far as unemployment benefits that are expected to end this month, Solis promised that there will be a discussion on the Hill about extending unemployment insurance and extending certain ARRA provisions that would be applicable.

Small Business Owners Make Case For Insurance Reform Before Senate HELP Committee

By Ravi Bhatia-Talk Radio News Service

Small business owners testified in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Tuesday in an attempt by the committee to find methods for reducing the ever-increasing health insurance costs facing small businesses.

“Today, I’m announcing my own investigation into the pricing practices of health insurance companies that sell policies to small businesses,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), HELP Committee Chairman. “Health insurance companies should open their books, explain to the American people why they support a health insurance market for small businesses that is so dysfunctional and so lacking in transparency.”

Harkin argued that the legislation presented by the Senate would create health insurance exchanges that pool small business together and increase competition, also making health insurance more transparent.

“Small businesses pay 18 percent more then large businesses for exactly same insurance plan and coverage. The [exact] same policy,” he said.

Art Cullen, editor of the Storm Lake Times in Storm Lake, Iowa, accepted a $5,000 deductible on services provided by a hospital in order to keep costs manageable for his small business. The deductible forces cancer patients covered by the policy to pay $2,500 out-of-pocket for a shot at a local hospital - or to drive to the next town in order to pay $25 for the same shot at a clinic. The insurance prices, he said, drive down the potential revenue that the town could have earned from treating the patient at the local hospital.

“We need more insurance competition in the rural marketplace by knocking down state cartels,” he said. “We need to know that a single health catastrophe will not bankrupt us and bring down everything we have worked for over the past 20 years.”

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, Chair of the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, said that the cost of health care is rising rapidly and that insurance companies have little ability to address the issues.

“The challenge moving forward will be to overhaul the delivery system to promote prevention, quality and results-based care to encourage healthy lifestyles and to eliminate waste and fraud in the system,” said Praeger. “The difficulties in the small group market, as in the individual market, are ultimately the result of medical spending that has outstripped the ability of most Americans to pay for it.”

Obama: It's Essential To Make More Credit Available To Smaller Banks

At a speech he delivered Wednesday afternoon, President Barack Obama made clear that "it is essential to make more credit available to smaller banks and community financial institutions that these businesses depend on". (0:21)

Senate Dems Claim Health Care Reform Will Stimulate Small Business, Create Jobs

By Laura Woodhead-Talk Radio News Service

Any health care reform legislation must include provisions to help small businesses, create more jobs and stimulate the economy, Senate Democrats said Wednesday.

"More than half of all Americans without health insurance are small business owners, their employees and their dependents," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) during a press conference. "We are trying to craft a reform that will make health coverage more stable, more secure and more affordable."

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, said that the high costs of health care has been limiting the potential for U.S businesses to create more jobs.

"We are relying on these 27 million businesses to create more jobs, not less," Landrieu said. "This health care expense is sitting on our Business Committee like a very wet, heavy heavy blanket suffocating their ability to grow and expand."

Under the current drafts of health care reform legislation, small business risks would be pooled with other small businesses in order to stabilize the system through nationwide or statewide exchanges.

"Insurance companies would have to post their premiums side by side so that [employers] can comparison shop," Durbin said. "[Small businesses] will have access to every private insurance company in [their] area."

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said it was critical that small businesses were included in health care reform in order to stimulate the economy.

"[Small businesses] are the engines of our economy," Lincoln stated. "We need to make sure that what we are doing is going to be helping them."

Durbin admitted that forming the health care bill was a delicate process and that there would be "flash points" along the way, but urged his party's colleagues to stay united in order to pass reform.

"[While] what is being produced by the bi-partisan group from the Finance Committee is not the bill that I would write, I have urged all my colleagues to stick with this process and realize that the first vote is not the last vote," Durbin said. "The Republican [minority] want to filibuster us in to failure. We can't let that happen."

Small Business Owners Say “No New Taxes”

By Aaron Richardson - Talk Radio News Service

According to members of Congress, small business owners are the key to getting the economy back on it’s feet. Unfortunately, the proposed government run health care plan will levy a five percent payroll tax on small business owners who say this will cripple their finances and force many of them to shut down.

A roundtable discussion was held Tuesday in Washington D.C. to discuss the grievances small business owners have with government run health care.

“I would like to see an atmosphere out of Washington that says let’s help the small businessmen, not an atmosphere that says okay we have to pay for something let’s just hit the businessmen,” said Steve Rosenfield, owner of By The Rockies LLC.

“I’d have to put my employees on the government plan and I don’t want to. I want them to have the health care they like, go to the doctor they want to go to, get the tests that they need and I am willing to pay that no charge,” said Maureen O 'Conner, owner of Center Sheet Metal in Bronx, NY.

House Committee on Small Business member Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) explained that many Democrats are not being totally straight with the American public.

“We keep hearing about how the Administration and Speaker Polosi’s plan is going to save the tax payers millions of dollars by spending trillions of tax payer dollars, and it is ridiculous. In Washington they call that 'bending the curve,' in Missouri they call it bending the truth,” said Graves.