Fiscal Guide to Obama's Campaign Proposals
Promises, Promises: A Fiscal Guide to Barack Obama's Campaign Proposals-will help the public find its way through the thicket of policy proposals put forward by the campaign of President-elect Barack Obama, presenting a capsule summary of his major policy proposals and an estimate of each proposal's likely fiscal impact.
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Budget Blog
6 January 2009 - 1:22pm
 January 6 - Today, the U.S. House
of Representatives votes on the rules package that will govern House procedure
for the 111th Congress. (Find here a section-by-section breakdown of the rules.) Included in the rules package is an
extension of pay-as-you-go rules (PAYGO) that require requires that the costs of
new tax cuts or mandatory spending programs be offset with new revenue or
reduced mandatory spending. The new rule package modifies the previous PAYGO
House rule by allowing offsets to
occur between -Â rather than only within - bills.
Another provision within the package
would eliminate the Medicare trigger, a modification objected to by the
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). The Medicare trigger was
created as part of the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003 and is enacted when
for two consecutive years the program's trustees estimate that general revenue funding
will exceed 45 percent of Medicare's
total funding in any year within the next seven years. Said Maya MacGuineas,
President of CRFB:
"Strengthening PAYGO would be a
powerful sign that Congress is serious about becoming fiscally responsible - or
at least preventing things from getting much worse. Still, all budget rules
can be gamed, bent, or ignored. There are not substitutes for real political
courage and a broad commitment to fiscal
responsibility."
5 January 2009 - 6:03pm
January 5 - In today's Washington Post, Senate
Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad and Ranking Member Judd Gregg called on
Congress to combine the passage
of expected stimulus legislation with a "bipartisan commitment to begin
addressing the long-term budget challenges confronting our nation."Â
Noting that stimulus paid for
through deficit spending is both necessary and appropriate at the present time,
Conrad and Gregg said
that to avoid the next economic crisis, the Congress must address
long-term fiscal imbalances sooner rather than
later. 
"By acting now, we can make
difficult but gradual changes to bend the cost curves of entitlement programs
that will otherwise overwhelm our budget, as well as make needed reforms to our
out-of-date and inefficient tax code. The longer we put off these reforms, the
more draconian our choices will become and the more likely they are to be forced
upon us."
Spotlight on Stimulus
U.S. Budget Watchâs recent commentary on stimulus packages can serve as a reference for the public on the costs, benefits, and potential pitfalls of government attempts to stimulate the economy:
- âHow to Make A Stimulus Package Fiscally Responsible,â proposes that any stimulus package should include mechanisms for recouping the funds spent after the economy recovers.
- âFiscally Responsible Stimulusâ discusses several recent proposals and outlines general guidelines to which any stimulus should adhere.
- âGuide to Stimulus Proposalsâ provides a detailed cost analysis of President-Elect Obamaâs campaign stimulus proposals.
- âObamaâs Economic Team,â another press release, praises Obama for his stated focus on finding savings in the federal budget while pursuing another stimulus package, and reiterates the call to design a stimulus that pays for the increased debt it generates once the economy recovers.
Major Stimulus Proposals
| Proposal |
Major Components |
Estimated Cost |
|
American Recovey and Reinvestment Plan*
(President-elect Barack Obama, Forthcoming)
*Unofficial plan based upon speeches and press reports
|
Tax Rebates, Aid to
States, Infrastructure Investment (Including Green Investments and Health IT), Corporate Tax Relief, Job Creation
Incentives, Unemployment, and Other
Provisions
|
$675 billion to $775 billion over two years
(Politico)
|
|
A Rescue Plan for Main Street
(Irons and Pollack, Economic Policy Institute, 12/17/08)
|
Infrastructure Investment (Including Green Investments), Medicaid Matches, Other Aid to States,
Unemployment, Food Stamps, Housing Assistance, Payroll Tax Holiday, and Other Provisions
|
At least $350 billion to $850 billion
over two years
(EPI)
|
|
How to Spend $350 Billion in a First Year of Stimulus and Recovery
(Center for American Progress, 12/05/08)
|
Unemployment, Food Stamps, Housing Assistance, Aid to State and Local Governments, Infrastructure Investment (Including Green Investments), Tax Cut Stimulus, and Other Provisions
|
$350 billion
over one year
(CAP)
|
|
Economic Recovery Act of 2008
(Senators Harry Reid and Robert Byrd, 11/17/08)
|
Infrastructure
Investment (Including Green Investments), Food Stamps, Medicaid Matches, Other
Aid to States, Unemployment, Auto Industry Assistance, Auto Sales Tax Deduction,
and Other Provisions
|
$77 billion
over two years
(CBO)
|
|
Economic Recovery:
A Federal-State Partnership
(National Governors Association, 11/13/08)
|
Medicaid Matches,
Special Education Funding, Infrastructure Investment, Pell Grants, Unemployment, and
Workforce Investment
(All Listed as "Potential Recovery Programs", and
Focused Only on States)
|
$126 billion over several years
(NGA)
|
|
The
Boehner Plan for Economic Growth, Jobs, and Rapid Recovery
(Congressman John Boehner, 10/28/08)
|
Child Tax Credit
Expansion, Capital Gains Tax Suspension, Bonus Depreciation, Corporate Tax Cut,
Energy Initiatives, and Other Provisions
|
$300 billion
(Boehner)
|
|
Timely,
Targeted, Temporary, and Transformative: Crafting an Innovation-Based Economic
Stimulus Package
(Robert Atkinson, The Informationa Technology & Innovation Foundation, 10/08)
|
IT Investment
Expensing, Health IT Incentives, Energy Investment Incentives, Infrastructure
Investment, Corporate Tax Breaks for Repatriation, Loans to
States
|
Unspecified
|
|
Job Creation and
Unemployment Relief Act of 2008
(Congressman David Obey, 9/26/08)
|
Infrastructure
Investments, Unemployment, Medicaid Matches, and Food
Stamps
|
$46 billion over two
years
(CBO)
|
|
Green
Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon
Economy
(Pollin, Garrett-Peltier, Heintz, and Scharber, Political Economy Research Institute and Center for American Progress, 09/08)
|
Retrofitting of Buildings,
Mass Transit and Freight Rails, Smart Electrical Grid, Renewable Energy, and
other Green Investments
(Focused on Green Investment Only and Meant To
Supplement Additional Stimulus if Necessary)
|
$100 billion over two
years
(PERI/CAP)
|
CRFB Ad in New York Times
|
