What will Congress do to Obama's stimulus?

Meanwhile, in an indication of the uncertainty over the stimulus, there was some conflict between Rangel and Baucus about whether a tax cut for workers would or wouldn’t reduce revenue to the funds that pay Medicare and Social Security benefits.

“If what we’re talking about is getting disposable income in the hands of working people … we’ll have to deal with it where we see some problems in not getting the funds in the Social Security trust fund,” Rangel told reporters.

“You sure don’t want to take money out of Medicare or Social Security trust funds. You can’t do that,” he said.

'The trust fund is not affected'
But Baucus said a cut in taxes is “not a trust fund issue; that’s straight income tax. It’s not trust fund revenues, it's general revenues. It sounds like a payroll tax, but it is an income tax provision. Your withholding (of taxes in workers' paychecks) is reduced, but the trust fund is not affected.”

Asked when he would actually receive a specific draft proposal from the Obama staff, Baucus answered, “We’re working with them all the time. They basically want us to proceed while they talk to us about principles and concepts. They’re not giving us specific legislation.”

Wouldn’t it help if the Obama team sent over a draft? “No, it would not help,” he said. “The process we’re going through is working pretty well.”

Meanwhile, the Republicans face a strategic choice. In theory, they have enough votes in the Senate to stop the legislation. But do they want to be blamed by the news media, the public, and the Democrats for delaying a package that seems to offer hope of sparking growth in the economy?

A key Republican senator who is up for re-election in 2010, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, indicated Thursday that he’d likely vote for a huge stimulus bill, despite his concern about long-term deficits.

“I’d support a stimulus package that is within the parameters of what I think is appropriate and it could be a pretty big number if the policy’s right.”

A vote for a stimulus bill would fiscally responsible, Gregg said, “because it will generate economic activity and temper this extraordinarily serious downturn ... and will give people the opportunity to have jobs.”

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