Pelosi Scolds GOP For Stalling Economic Agenda

By Benny Martinez

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) scolded Republican Senators at her weekly press conference Thursday for refusing to cooperate with a stalled jobs bill.

“Show us the jobs,” Pelosi said.

After countless attempts to advance the bill and create more jobs, Pelosi said Republican Senators need to recognize that the American people want and need more opportunities to succeed.

“What did middle-class families ever do to Republicans in the Senate that they would snuff out every opportunity for job creation that has been sent to them,” the Speaker said.

Despite relentless GOP opposition, the Speaker said that “we are on the path to create more jobs this year than eight years of the Bush administration.”

Pelosi also lauded middle-class tax cuts saying they served as a means to “inject demand into the economy.”

Economic Adviser Defends Stimulus Plan

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

The economy is far from healthy according to Christina Romer Council of Economic Advisers Chair, but the adviser is still optimistic over the effectiveness of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We are urging serious medicine for serious economic problems. If we can accomplish these important changes we will not only come through the current crisis, we will emerge even stronger and healthier than before.” said Romer Thursday at an Economic Club of Washington event.

The Recovery Act provided $787 billion of tax cuts and government spending. Romer said that makes it “the boldest counter cyclical fiscal stimulus in American history.” She noted that the economy was deteriorating rapidly when President Obama announced his economic team just before Thanksgiving.

While the plan has garnered a substantial amount of controversy, Romer pointed to the use of fiscal stimulus to help weak economies by past presidents including Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and George W. Bush.

“In the past few months, some have tried to portray fiscal stimulus as an exotic tool with a questionable pedigree,” said Romer. “To use a medical analogy, fiscal stimulus is a well-tested antibiotic, not some new-fangled gene therapy.”

She said the effects of the Recovery will increase over time and they expect the fiscal stimulus to be “roughly $100 billion in each of the next five quarters.” Initially the stimulus was focused more heavily toward tax changes and state fiscal relief, but there will be more direct government investments as it continues.

“The President aimed for a package that was large and got good employment bang for the fiscal buck,” said Romer.

Obama Makes Remarks on Tax Day

By Suzia van Swol-University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service
President Obama celebrated income tax day today by outlining his commitment to helping the working class.

At the White House, Obama said Americans “need a government that is working to create jobs and opportunities for them, rather than simply giving more and more to those at the very top in the false hope that wealth automatically trickles down."

“We’ve passed a broad and sweeping tax cut for 95 percent of American workers,” said Obama. And "make no mistake, this tax cut will reach 120 million families and put $120 billion directly into their pockets, and it includes the most American workers ever to get a tax cut.”

Inside, the White House was warm and comforting, a stark contrast to the more than 1,500 people who fought the Washington, D.C. rain and cold with a "Tax Day Tea Party" protest.

Obama said he hopes to “make it easier, quicker, and less expensive for you to file a return, so that April 15th is not a date that is approached with dread every year.”

Speaker Pelosi says- No recess until the economic bill is done.

“The issues like food stamps, and unemployment insurance, which affect so many people in the states and are necessary at this time when funds are short, but the economy is down, actually have the most stimulative affect on the economy,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a conference call with Governors Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Jim Douglas (R-VT). The house will begin debating the 825 billion dollar economic recovery bill today, 2/3 of which will go towards job recovery while the rest is proposed to be used for tax cuts. Speaker Pelosi said that, “Tax cuts where we have them, to the middle class, we think will give us our biggest return.”

The aim of the new bill is to help the states as quickly as possible. “The best news for the local and county governments, because of what Speaker Pelosi and the President are doing, assuming it gets passed, is that the county governments and the city governments will be in much better shape in terms of the money that they get from the state,” said Governor Rendell.

“Does it create jobs, does it turn the economy around, does it lead to long term stabilization of the economy, does it do so in an apparent way and with great accountability to the American people,” said Speaker Pelosi. This bill is the first legislative step towards turning the economy around, and if it is not passed by the President’s day recess, Pelosi said that there will be no recess.

by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Gov. Palin: Reallocate funding from "fruit fly research in France" to helping children with special needs

Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) gave her first policy speech of the campaign today in Pittsburgh, focusing on policy adjustment for special needs children. Palin said the money politicians are extracting through earmarks for "pet projects" such as "fruit fly research in France" should be reallocated to "take care of the most vulnerable children." Mentioning motivation from "God's vision of perfection versus the world's vision of perfection," Palin said she would triple the funding for special needs children by 2011 if elected Vice President.

Palin stated that the public school systems are failing to render enough help for special needs children like her son, who has down’s syndrome. She spoke about federal funding to follow every special needs child without "bureaucratic complications or barriers". She pledged to "finally fully fund" the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as well as Individualized Education Programs. Palin said parents of children with disabilities have "enough complications already" and should have more options in schools for their children, whether they be private or public schools.

While Palin and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) intend to "reduce taxes to promote growth" if elected, Palin scrutinized Senator Obama's (D-Ill.) plan to raise taxes because it would have "serious and harmful consequences" for parents of special needs children, who might lose funding for things like Special Needs Trusts.