[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 703-704]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THE NEED FOR A STIMULUS BILL

  Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, with the votes that have been cast this 
afternoon, we have once again shown the American people that we have 
put politics before their needs. Quite frankly, I think this body 
should be ashamed that we could not rise above our party differences 
and give the American people a stimulus package that will help secure 
our economy, put people back to work and respond to the human suffering 
that is occurring as a result of the recession.
  Too often, it seems to me, we spend more time trying to score 
political points than addressing the needs of real people. And I can 
tell you, there are real needs in the State of Ohio. Despite claims 
that an economic turn around is just around the corner, the citizens of 
my State are still suffering the effects of this recession. Many more 
are ``shaking in their boots,'' wondering if they are going to be laid-
off and the next to join the unemployment line.
  Since the first week of December, we have had 320 companies in Ohio 
announce their intention to lay-off workers, affecting nearly 70,000 
people.
  Right now, we have some 191,000 people receiving unemployment 
benefits, and each week, thousands file for initial benefits.
  Also each week, around 3,000 people exhaust their benefits without 
having found another job.
  In 2001, initial unemployment claims in my state jumped by 41.5 
percent compared to 2000--the highest since 1992.
  While the U.S. Department of Commerce reported a two tenths of a 
percent increase in the economy in the fourth quarter, I consider it 
anemic economic growth, which is providing little benefit--if any to 
the men and women of Ohio.
  We need robust growth, and a balanced stimulus package is critical to 
getting us there.
  The President was right on target in his State of the Union address 
last week when he called for an economic stimulus. He did not advocate 
for a partisan stimulus measure, trying to maximize his political 
advantage, but rather he elected to press for the stimulus proposal 
that was initially proposed by the Senate Centrist Coalition.
  I am a member of the Centrist Coalition, and I was proud to work with 
my colleagues Senators Snowe, Collins, Breaux, Miller, and Ben Nelson 
on a bipartisan measure that would be fair, would help stimulate the 
economy and would respond to basic human needs.
  This proposal does not have everything I, the other members of the 
coalition, nor the President want. In fact, it includes items I might 
not necessarily support as freestanding legislation. However, this 
proposal is the embodiment of compromise, and this is how it should be 
in an evenly divided Senate. That is why I cannot believe that members 
of this Senate have allowed economic stimulus to fail.
  If we are to have any progress this year, we must work together as 
our constituents elected us to do.
  I voted in favor of cloture on both versions of the stimulus package, 
since I felt it necessary to move the process along and not demagogue 
the issue just to score a political victory. I had hoped to move 
something along to a conference committee.
  I think if we all had simply agreed to the majority leader's stimulus 
package when he proposed it 2 weeks ago, we could have gone to 
conference with the House, hashed out our differences, and today we 
could possibly be voting on a compromise stimulus bill.
  Conversely, if the majority leader had recognized the bipartisan 
nature of the Centrist Coalition package--crafted by members of his own 
party here in the Senate and passed by the House--we could possibly be 
at a bill signing ceremony today. However, the process has degenerated 
into a political fight.
  The Senate could pass a stimulus bill. Senator Grassley proposed a 
very good compromise by offering the Centrist Coalition package, which 
should have been adopted because it gets the job done.
  In fact, I believe if the Senate was given the opportunity to cast a 
straight ``up or down'' vote on the Grassley amendment, it would pass 
by a large margin since many in this Chamber actually want to pass a 
meaningful stimulus bill.
  However, that is not the way things sometimes work around here, and 
the American people are the ones who suffer because they will not get 
the economic relief they need. In the end, the only person who got what 
he wanted was the majority leader. He did not want a bill, and he got 
his wish.
  Still, I think the American people deserve to know what the Senate 
could have passed and what the Centrist Coalition package could have 
provided in the way of economic stimulus to illustrate the good policy 
that too often falls victim to partisan politics in this Chamber.
  One thing the Centrist Coalition proposal would do is provide a real 
boost to roughly 38 million low-income workers who did not qualify for 
rebate checks last summer and fall. Those rebates would mean $13.5 
billion would go into the pockets of those individuals to help them 
through these difficult times. And I am sure it would help stimulate 
the economy because they would likely spend that money rather than save 
it.
  The Centrist Coalition package would also lower the marginal tax rate 
on individual income from 27\1/2\ percent down to 25 percent. That 
means single people who make between $28,000 and $68,000 a year, and 
married couples who make between $47,000 and $113,000 a year would find 
additional money in their pockets. About one-third of the taxpayers in 
this nation, 36 million people, would benefit with these rate 
reductions.
  Add the 38 million beneficiaries of the rebate checks, and the 36 
million who would benefit from the reduction in marginal rates, and the 
Centrist Coalition package would help a majority of the roughly 100 
million American households that file taxes.
  The thing I would really like to concentrate on is the part of this 
package that deals with health care. When we got started debating the 
stimulus package, the House passed a package that had something like $3 
billion for health care. Likewise, the President's package also had $3 
billion. The Democratic Finance Committee proposal was $16.7 billion. 
At the end of the day, the Centrist Coalition and White House 
compromise package had $21 billion in it for dislocated workers' health 
care, and money for the States for national emergency grants, including 
$4 billion to the States for Medicaid funding. This is a tremendous 
amount of help for the needy.
  The Centrist Coalition proposal would also assist displaced workers 
by providing an extension of 13 weeks of

[[Page 704]]

unemployment benefits--benefits that would be available to those who 
became unemployed between March 15, 2001, and December 31st of this 
year. An estimated 3 million unemployed workers would qualify for 
benefits averaging about $230 a week. Those extended benefits would be 
100-percent federally funded at a cost of about $10 billion to the 
Federal Government, so States would not have to pick up the tab.
  The bill would allow states to accelerate the transfer of $9 billion 
from State unemployment trust funds so they could distribute that money 
earlier than now possible. This transfer of money, which already 
belongs to the states, would help state treasuries, which are in dire 
straits today.
  With respect to health care benefits, the Centrist Coalition and 
White House compromise proposal would provide $19 billion in health 
care assistance for all dislocated workers who are eligible for 
unemployment insurance with a refundable, advanceable tax credit for 
the purchase of health insurance--not just individuals who are eligible 
for COBRA coverage. This is an important distinction since the credit 
is available to unemployed people who do not have access to coverage 
through COBRA, since their employers did not provide health insurance 
or their employer went out of business. Under this bill, these 
individuals would have been able to get a 60-percent subsidy of their 
health insurance costs without any cap on the dollar amount of subsidy.
  The proposal also would include reforms to ensure that people have 
access to health insurance coverage in the individual market. If a 
person has 12 months of employer-sponsored coverage, rather than 18 
months as under the current law, health insurers are required to issue 
a policy and not impose any preexisting condition exclusion.
  The Centrist and White House proposal also includes $4 billion in 
enhanced national emergency grants for the States which Governors could 
use to help all workers--not just those eligible for the tax credit. 
They could use this to pay for health insurance in both public and 
private plans. In other words, we would be paying $4 billion out to the 
States so they can reach out and help people in their respective States 
who are not covered by some of the particular provisions in the 
stimulus package.
  The Centrist Coalition package would also provide a $4.6 billion, 
one-time grant to assist States with their Medicaid programs. Our 
States are in deep budgetary trouble because, unlike the Federal 
Government, they have to balance their budgets every year. The money 
isn't there for them to take care of the many needs they face. This 
$4.6 billion grant would go out to the States to help them provide 
Medicaid for the neediest Americans. In many States, they are going to 
cut Medicaid payments because they simply do not have the money since 
their State treasuries are in such deep financial trouble.
  All in all, I believe the Centrist Coalition and White House 
compromise package was a good proposal, one that should have passed 
easily in the Senate before Christmas and which should have easily 
passed today.
  There are a lot of concerned Americans, men and women who have lost 
their jobs, and who do not know where they are going to get health care 
for themselves and their families. We have an obligation to help. At 
the very least, we have provided an additional 13 weeks of unemployment 
benefits to our constituents who are out of work. It is only a fraction 
of what we should have done, but it will give some assistance to those 
who need it. Still, I believe we must address our unfinished business.
  I believe that there is still time to set aside our differences, put 
the needs of the American people ahead of politics and pass the 
Centrist Coalition proposal. It is fair, it is balanced and it is 
bipartisan and I believe it is the best thing we can do to restores 
people's faith in the economy and restore people's faith that we do 
care about them.

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