Democrats' economic stimulus bill falters in House

[September 19, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Democratic plan to inject $50 billion or so into the economy through a second stimulus bill faltered Thursday and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the party will instead try to put some of its components on a budget bill Congress must pass in the next two weeks.

"We'll see what we can get" in that bill, Pelosi told reporters. "And then we'll see where we go from there." The "continuing resolution" is necessary to keep the government running after Sept. 30.

"Let's face it, we can only have a stimulus if the president will sign it," Pelosi added.

Taken together, Pelosi's statements indicate bleak prospects for the ambitious stimulus bill Democrats had been talking about, including roughly $20 billion for jobs-producing infrastructure projects, more food stamps and more Medicaid aid to states.

Democrats held out hopes that other items, including a second extension of unemployment benefits and an increase in heating subsidies for the poor, could win approval as part of the year-end budget bill. A plan to deliver $25 billion in low-interest federal loans to the auto industry also appears virtually certain to catch a ride on the year-end budget bill.

Prospects for the bigger Democratic stimulus measure were always bleak, given the opposition of President Bush and Senate Republicans, as well as from moderate-to-conservative House Democrats who object to borrowing the money to pay for it.

Democrats hope that the stopgap spending bill will also carry billions of dollars in disaster aid, as well as three of the 12 annual appropriations bills -- for the Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments. The bill would total more than $600 billion and include hundreds of so-called earmarks sought by lawmakers for their home districts.

Republicans want to use the spending bill to lift a quarter-century ban on oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. House Democrats passed a bill Tuesday that would allow drilling 50 miles from the coastline. Republicans called it a ruse, saying most of the offshore oil is within 50 miles.

[Associated Press; By ANDREW TAYLOR]

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