Huffpo: Tentative Stimulus Deal Reached

[flpoljunkie]

Excerpts:

Stimulus Deal Reached Tentatively

DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators agreed to pare economic stimulus legislation below $800 billion and reached for a final deal with the White House on Wednesday on a bill designed to create millions of jobs in a nation reeling from recession.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the negotiators, said there was agreement to hold the bill to $789 billion, tens of billions below the cost of both the House and Senate bills that had cleared in recent days, and that 35 percent of the total would be in the form of tax cuts.

The principal components of the emerging measure included money to help victims of the recession, as much as $44 billion in aid for states, which face cuts of their own as a result of lower tax receipts, and the president's proposed tax cut for lower and middle-income wage earners.

Officials said there was agreement to accept the White House's call to provide the tax break to workers who pay Social Security taxes but do not earn enough to owe income taxes, although it was possible the amount would be scaled back somewhat. The president sought $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples.

Working to accommodate the new, lower overall limit of the bill, negotiators effectively wiped out a Senate-passed provision for a new $15,000 tax credit to defray the cost of buying a home, these officials said. The agreement would allow taxpayers to deduct the sales tax paid on new car purchases, but not the interest on loans for the same vehicles.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/11/stimulus-deal-obama-team_n_165912.html

[Teaser]

1. Good thing they cut out the home buying tax credit

And I can live with 790 billion.

sausage making. ugh.

[Thrill]

2. Whatever is not in here. Get it in a Appropriations Bill

[flpoljunkie]

3. Exactly.