Senate backs high-income plan
WASHINGTON (AP) - January 30, 2008 A senior Senate Republican swung behind a plan to make
individuals with annual incomes of up to $150,000 and couples with
incomes up to $300,000 eligible for rebates of $500 and $1,000.
Qualifying families would get $300 more for each child.
The proposed eligibility ceilings in a new bill put forth by
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus compare with income
caps of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples in an
economic stimulus bill passed Wednesday by the House.
The measure by Baucus, D-Mont., also would expand rebate
eligibility to 20 million senior citizens on Social Security and
extend unemployment benefits.
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the
Finance Committee, said Wednesday morning he will support Baucus'
bill to pump $196 billion into the economy over the next two years.
The committee was to vote on the bill later Wednesday and the
measure was expected to reach the floor promptly.
"It's going to be presented as a bipartisan (bill)," Grassley
said.
Baucus originally wanted to let even the richest taxpayers share
in the rebates, saying that would attract Republican support for
his measure. Grassley said earlier Wednesday that including them in
the rebates was a key reason he was backing Baucus' bill.
But the House excluded people with high incomes from the rebates
in its bill and Senate Democrats also had balked at the idea of
wealthy people getting rebate checks.
Baucus is pushing a proposal to add $35 billion to the
House-passed bill to let senior citizens in on the rebates and
extend unemployment benefits. It would shrink the rebate to $500
for individuals and $1,000 for couples.
In backing the bill, Grassley broke with President Bush and
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Both have said the Senate
should simply pass the House-passed stimulus measure.
Grassley told Iowa reporters that he believed the Senate would
act quickly on the measure and that he and Baucus would team up to
try to block further amendments to the bill.
"If Baucus and I can work together, we can keep amendments
down, keep it from becoming a Christmas tree," Grassley said.
The bipartisan Senate package faced challenges from the left and
right. Democrats and some Republicans said Wednesday they would
move to add money for food stamps and heating aid to the poor.
White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto, traveling on Air
Force One to California with President Bush Wednesday, said the
disappointing fourth quarter growth rate should give the Senate
greater urgency to pass the bill.
"We'd like to see some leadership that will encourage members
to put away some of their pet ideas and think about the bigger
picture," Fratto said.
Grassley said he does not personally support $14 billion in
additional unemployment insurance for workers whose benefits have
run out, but that he was willing to go along in exchange for
Democratic concessions such as eliminating the House-passed
provision phasing out rebates for individuals and couples making
more than $75,000-$150,000.
Grassley also praised the measure for giving rebate checks to 20
million senior citizens living on Social Security. The House
measure would leave out many seniors unless they earn a paycheck or
pay income taxes on their non-Social Security income.
Baucus' measure extends unemployment payments for 13 weeks for
those whose benefits have run out, with 26 more weeks available in
states with a 6.5 percent jobless rate or higher. His initial
proposal would have provided the longer extension for any state
whose unemployment rate exceeded 6 percent, but the trigger was
raised to control the cost of the package. Only Alaska, Michigan,
Mississippi and South Carolina have jobless rates of 6.5 percent or
more.
The Senate plan would restore a business tax break dropped
during the House negotiations that would permit corporations
suffering losses now to reclaim taxes previously paid.
Both packages include roughly $50 billion worth of tax
incentives for businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)