Billy Moore's Washington Update
November 17, 2008
Congress returns Monday for a one-week Lame Duck session as retail sales plunged more than after 9/11 and adjusted automobile sales fell to World War II levels. Home foreclosures rose 25 percent over last year. Congressional Democratic leaders plan a final showdown with Republicans and the White House that is more likely to produce spinning wheels than a new economic rescue package.
Monday, Senators will pair a $25 billion loan package for automakers with a $6 billion unemployment benefits increase that the House approved in October, with a vote occurring Wednesday. The House will convene Wednesday to consider any package approved by the Senate. Congressional Republicans reject cooperation, saying the lesson of their election losses is that they should be more confrontational, making Senate passage -- much less enactment -- of the package unlikely.
President-elect Barack Obama urged Congress to pass a down-payment rescue plan and help the one million-plus Americans who have exhausted their unemployment insurance. There is consensus on the unemployment insurance extension, but it is unclear if congressional partisans will cooperate to pass an unemployment bill without the automaker provisions. Food stamps and Medicaid increases, which also passed the House in September, appear lost in the mix.
President-elect Obama and the new Congress promise to make an economic rescue measure the first order of business next year. His transition team was filled out last week and expectations are that some cabinet nominees and additional White House staff will be name this week.
Congress will hold leadership elections this week. Top House and Senate leaders will be reelected. Senate Democrats will decide whether to punish turncoat Joe Lieberman as Republicans choose whether to banish felon Ted Stevens. Henry Waxman's challenge of John Dingell for the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee promises to be a cliffhanger.