House committees take on stimulus
Two House committees take up tax cuts and infrastructure spending in the $825 billion stimulus package. Republicans are raising objections to the existing proposals. John Dimsdale reports.
Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) listens to an aide during a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee on Capitol Hill (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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Scott Jagow: Congress has started work on the $825 billion stimulus package. But already, Republicans are raising objections. Today, two committees will debate the tax cuts and the infrastructure spending. More from John Dimsdale.
John Dimsdale: The House Ways and Means Committee must sign off on the tax cuts in the stimulus package. The proposal would give workers a payroll tax credit of as much as a thousand dollars a year for married couples.
Democrats say people are likely to spend that money, because it increases their take-home pay. But Republican Kevin Brady, a Ways and Means member from Texas, doesn't think so:
Kevin Brady: It really won't stimulate the economy. I mean I think that for the average worker, it gives you $1.35 a day more in your paycheck. Yet it gives the family almost $7,000 in added debt because of the spending.
The bulk of that spending is for traditional infrastructure, like highways and public transportation. But there are also a variety of energy, science and technology projects -- like broadband networks for underserved areas. Those will be taken up today by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Republicans say it'll take years before such spending creates jobs.
In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
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