Nevada senators on opposite sides of stimulus debate

WASHINGTON — Nevada’s senators staked out opposing sides Thursday as the Senate began positioning for the big debate next week over President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan.

“We have a real serious crisis on our hands,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, calling on the Senate to “complete the work that the House did” when it passed a stimulus bill on Wednesday.

But Sen. John Ensign said the bill the Senate is scheduled to consider, at a cost of $888 billion or more, will not deliver its bang for the buck.

“Many of us believe it may stimulate a few jobs here and there, but at what cost?” Ensign said at a news conference with other Republicans.

It was no surprise that Reid and Ensign differ on the stimulus bill as their philosophies on taxes and spending are rarely in sync. But as leaders in their respective parties both Nevadans are playing a prominent role in this debate over the nation’s economic recovery.

The stakes are high. Appearing before reporters with other Democratic leaders, Reid noted that more people lost their jobs on Monday than will be watching the Super Bowl in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

“They’re going to play in a stadium that holds 75,000 people,” Reid said. “One day this week 85,000 people were laid off in America.”

The House passed an $819 billion stimulus bill on Wednesday by an overwhelmingly partisan vote of 244-188. All but 11 Democrats voted for it while 177 Republicans voted against it.

Critics said the bill contained too little for tax incentives to spur business growth, and too little for road building and other infrastructure improvements that create jobs. They also complained about spending for education and the arts that appears to have little to do with generating employment or sparking the economy.

Supporters said the stimulus will inject money to boost the economy in the short run while laying the groundwork for economic expansion in the long run.

The Senate version contains additional tax relief for middle-income families that officials said boosts its cost to $888 billion.

Reid said Thursday that parts of the bill will create jobs while other parts “will save Americans tremendous amounts of money.”

Addressing complaints that the bill contains items that will not boost the economy, Reid said, “Stimulus is in the eye of the beholder.”

“It is easy to sit back and nitpick, but we have done the best we can,” Reid said, adding that Republicans will be able to offer amendments during debate.

“We have put everything we could into this legislation,” Reid said. He said economists, if anything, have warned against Congress passing a stimulus bill that would be too small or less ambitious.

“This is a very large package,” Reid said. “Are we saying it is perfect? Of course not. But both (House and Senate versions) are good packages and directed to the same thing, bringing change to the country.”

Reid said he was confident that Republicans will vote for the bill to ease its passage.

Ensign, a member of the Senate Republican leadership through his chairmanship of its policy committee, voted against the Senate bill when it emerged from the Finance Committee on Wednesday.

Later, he said, “I think it's important that we try to change the bill as much as we can.”

“We don’t need to have everything Republicans want, but we at least have to feel good enough that the bill actually will grow the economy, create jobs so it’s just not a massive spending bill,” Ensign said Thursday.

“We’re running up the national credit card to where, just like an individual family, if you run that up too much in the future, there’s a lot of things you’ll have to do without in the future,” he said.

Ensign said he is preparing amendments to offer larger tax relief to companies that negotiate down their debt as a strategy to get bad investments off their accounting sheets.

He and Sen. Barbara Boxer also have an amendment that would lower the corporate tax rate of 35 percent on income that U.S. companies earn overseas but return to the United States for reinvestment.

Ensign said Republicans also are considering an amendment that would have the government subsidize home mortgages for qualified borrowers at a 4 percent interest rate for up to two years.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.