Lobbyists jockey for stimulus plan favors
Washington is in high gear to put together a plan to ward off a recession, and special interest groups are all pressing for a piece of the economic pie. John Dimsdale reports.
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Doug Krizner: The talk in Washington is about rescuing the economy. This morning, President Bush will propose a stimulus plan. The Wall Street Journal reports it may include a tax rebate of up to $800 a person.
Yesterday, Fed chief Bernanke urged Congress to act quickly. Now the lobbying begins, as John Dimsdale reports.
John Dimsdale: There's a long list of interest groups asking for special consideration -- housing insurance, car makers, doctors... They're all getting in their two cents. The tourism industry is asking President Bush to fold in legislation working its way through Congress now. Roger Dow is the president of the Travel Industry Association.
Roger Dow: We're saying to the administration this is something you ought to get behind, because it's going to create $100-million-dollar plus program to promote people coming to the United States to spend their Euros and Pounds and Yen, etcetera.
Over at the National Federation of Independent Businesses, representing 350,000 small businesses, Bill Rys is looking for some stimulus for laid-off workers now trying to work from home.
Bill Rys: A standard home-office deduction is an easy way for those folks to get money back into those businesses they're trying to develop at home.
But sorting through this wish list could delay the package, and economists say it needs to kick in soon to be effective. In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
