13 months ago
The United States House passed a $819 billion stimulus plan Wednesday, and now the Senate is making its revisions.
Right now, many average Americans want to know how the plan could impact them.
As it stands, based on the House plan, single workers making less than $75,000 a year would get a $500 tax break. Basically, this boils down to bringing home an extra twenty dollars per bi-weekly paycheck. Couples making less than $150,000 combined would get a $1,000 tax break and bring home an additional $40 every two weeks.
The plan also works to help those who have recently lost their jobs by extending jobless benefits and increasing food stamp assistance.
One element of this effort is to help laid-off workers pay for health insurance. Under the House version, the government would cover 65% of a person's COBRA costs. COBRA allows people recently let-go to continue paying for and receiving the group health coverage extended to them under their previous employer. Previously, laid-off workers would have had to cover the entire cost of the medical plan.
Congressman Brian Higgins (D-27th District) said the House version is an important step toward getting the economy moving again.
"American companies announced 70,000 job cuts on Monday alone. We need something to inject demand in this economy. Doing nothing is not an option," Higgins said.
The lone Western New York Congressman to vote against the plan was freshman Representative Chris Lee (R-26th District), who said it included too much spending on new programs and not enough on stimulating the economy.
"What we have right now is not good for America, it's not good for taxpayers, and it's not going to have the effect that we truly need--a very quick stimulus that's truly effective--and that's how I measured it," Lee said.
Lee pointed out that the House version approved $136 billion in spending on new federal programs which he said will be difficult to eliminate down the road. He also questioned items like $335 million in spending on STD prevention and how that would create jobs.
The plan is now being worked on in the Senate where Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he expects to begin voting on it next week.
"Certainly you have to make sure the money is well spent but to do nothing or do too little--that's what Herbert Hoover did in the recession of 1930 which turned into the Great Depression of 1932," Schumer said.
