President Barack Obama brought new meaning to the word stimulus by signing the 787 billion dollar “nation bailout” package last month. U.S. Congressman Dave Obey (D.-Wis.) came to the UWMC to explain the package in lemans terms on Thurs. Feb. 19.

“Economists told Obama and they told us, what we had to do was to take action to counter the shrinking,” Obey said. “We had to reinflate this reduced economy.” Obama plans on “restoring fiscal discipline,” but with billions of dollars being thrown around with no oversight, the package has raised many eyebrows.

“Yes this is a big package, but you don’t shoot a grizzly bear with a bee bee gun,” stated Obey.

“What this package really is, is a whole filler. It is primarily an effort to fill the wholes in the economy,” Obey said. During the conference, he went on to explain that economists have projected the economy to get much worse and unemployment to rise to 11 percent over the next two years. With that in mind, it has been the new Administrations plan to take action, and take it fast.

“Passing the package did several things,” Obey said. “35 percent of the package is in the form of tax cuts, averaging 800 dollars for the average American couple.” 95 percent of Americans will be covered and single citizens will be given a 400-dollar income tax cut, he said.

“We could have just stopped there, but we think the last round of tax cuts showed that tax cuts alone aren’t enough to get this economy going again,” Obey explained. “Economists said there needed to be direct stimulation to the economy to try to create jobs.” The package provides over 100 billion dollars in investments in infrastructure for bridges and highway development, along with sewer and water projects. The plan will also implement an expansion of high speed broadband to all sections of the country.

“All we have are varied estimates. We hope the President’s estimates are right and that we can create (or save) three and a half to four million jobs,” Obey said.

Obey went on to say that Wisconsin, like most states, is faced with a large deficit, and the stimulus package wouldn’t make sense if it was counteracted by raising state taxes. “We provided a significant amount of money to states to try to stabilize their budgets,” he said. The package will dole out 90 billion dollars in aid to states and will help local school districts with 22 billion dollars in direct funding.

For the rising number of unemployed citizens in the U.S., the package will share some cash with them as well. The stimulus will increase the amount of unemployment compensation to help those hardest hit by the recession. It will focus on providing healthcare for the unemployed, with a 65 percent subsidy for a year.

One of the biggest expenditures in the U.S. is healthcare, and Obey said that while spending a lot of money on healthcare, we waste a lot of money on healthcare. To accommodate the healthcare industry, the package grants 19 billion dollars to help converge to computerized records.

To help college students, the stimulus provides a 600 dollar increase in Pell grants, Obey said.

Obey later focused on the ailing housing sector and the equally dire automobile sector, stating that this recession is different in that it can’t be neutralized by simply cutting interest rates. “Those two sectors usually lead us out of a recession,” he said. “This time neither of those sectors are going to lead us out of anything because both are in shambles. We will never be a dominant player in the auto field unless we can capture the technology such as thee new generation of batteries in electric powered vehicles.” He went on to state that the bill provides two billion dollars in grants and loans to help develop battery technology.

Glen Moberg, host of Wisconsin Public radio’s Route 51, questioned Obey on the lack of support from the Republican party in regard to the stimulus package. He stated that democrats in the past have voted for Pres. Reagan’s and Pres. Bush’s legislations, but today, there seems to be a lack of partisanship in Washington. “This seems to be historic opposition to this package, and I’m wondering what the reason is for it,” Moberg asked. Obey answered, “I think it was hysterical opposition, not historic. I think they made a strategic decision that they wanted Obama to have full ownership of everything that happens.” According to Obey, Republican’s in the Senate have been ordered to “behave like a thousand mosquitos, tormenting the majority while we try to push things through.”

Later in the question and answer portion of Obey’s visit, a man seated in the back of the Terrace Room knocked the Congressman of his podium with an accusation regarding an illegal appropriation given to Obey’s son. “On the local level, we have to abide by conflict of interest standard,” the questioner stated. “What do you have to say about the money you appropriated to your son?” Obey became flabbergasted, and responded with, “This is an example of how dirty politics can be. The Republican Party put out a statement and Newt Gingrich said twice on national television that I appropriated two billion dollars to an organization headed by my son.”

Obey pointed out the difference between a government agency (the Parks Service) and a private citizen’s organization his son works for (the National Parks Conservation Association). Obey’s committee appropriated two billion dollars to the National Parks service – a Federal Agency that has nothing to do with his son’s employer. “My son does not work for the Parks Service, does not gain any economic benefit from the Parks Service. He simply happens to follow the same values his old man has,” Obey said.

“Get your facts straight before you repeat this dribble you hear on television,” Obey said. The man then asked Obey to make a public service announcement to explain the situation. After the crowd stopped laughing, Obey stated, “Look, go smear somebody else, I’ve had enough of your question. Let me talk to a serious human being.”

Certainly tempers are high from Wausau to Washington, the economy continues to tumble, and the Democratic party is under a historic amount of pressure to make sure the stimulus package works. “I would be happy to give you a smaller product if we had a smaller problem to solve,” Obey advised. “You can not expect any one piece of legislation to solve our economic problems. There’s just too many of them.”

During Obey’s visit, billions of dollars were thrown around like a rapper making it rain in a darkened nightclub. Let’s hope that the lack of oversight works this time around, and the money finds more hands than less. To end the visit, Obey stated, “I believe that people putting together packages should know what they’re doing.” With 787 billion dollars on the line, they better.