Lee calls for action on second
economic stimulus package

From the Globe Political Desk

Faced with growing evidence that the U.S. economy has slipped into a recession, U.S. representatives Barbara Lee (DCA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), have called on congressional leaders to quickly bring to the House floor a second economic stimulus package.
   In a letter to the House Democratic leadership, CPC members called for action on a $118.9 billion package that includes many of the most effective recession- fighting tools left out of the first economic stimulus package enacted in early February.
    These measures include increasing federal funding for unemployment insurance and food stamp benefits, Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) Medicaid payments to states, home foreclosure relief and housing assistance, job creation, transportation infrastructure and public housing improvements, and building new wastewater treatments plants, repairing schools, expanding the earned income tax credit for families with three or more children, and making the child tax credit fully refundable for families with at least $3,000 in earnings.
    Amid speculation that House leaders might link new economic stimulus legislation to the additional $102.5 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the CPC leaders are urging that “any Iraq funding bill come to the House floor as a ‘clean’ bill without domestic add-ons or other international obligations.”
   “Help for America’s families has been held hostage by the Bush administration’s misspending on its failed foreign policy,” said Lee. “The American people know the war is crippling our economy and they want the occupation to end. Since the administration is not listening to the millions of homeowners facing foreclosure, or to the unemployed workers struggling to provide for their families, I will continue working in Congress to act to lessen the impact of the Iraq recession by immediately passing a second stimulus package to help get the economy back on track.”