Rep. Kind Column: Economic Stimulus Must Be Immediate, Targeted, and Fiscally Responsible
With the holidays now behind us and tax season looming, I know that many Wisconsin families are concerned about the direction our economy is heading. I share their concern. Unemployment is up, family income is down, and inflation is the worst in 17 years. Home values are dropping. The price of gasoline has gone up more than 100 percent in Wisconsin since 2001, and the costs of health care, groceries, home heating oil, and a college education continue to rise.
The urgency could not be greater to turn things around. Congress returned to Washington this week with an economic stimulus package as our top priority. It is my hope that we can work together - Democrats and Republicans - to kick our economy back into gear and provide immediate relief to middle class families.
The Democratically led Congress has already made some progress in this area over the last year. We passed legislation to address the subprime mortgage crisis, increase the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, and save on energy costs in the coming years. We also gave American families the biggest increase in financial aid for their kids' college tuition since the GI bill.
This has not been enough, however, to reverse seven years of misguided economic policies and the explosion they have created in our national debt. We must now do more if we are to avoid a recession and put our economy back on track.
I will work hard to help craft an economic stimulus package that provides immediate relief to taxpayers, targets those who need assistance most, and accomplishes both in a fiscally responsible way. There are a number of proposals being discussed right now that I feel would provide some immediate benefit to your wallets, and to our economy. For instance, one-time tax credits targeted at individuals and homeowners would provide a needed influx of spending into our economy after retailers suffered their slowest December in five years. Easing the tax burden on small businesses - the drivers of our economy - with accelerated depreciation would also encourage new business investment, and a credit on health insurance premium expenditures would allow businesses to maintain coverage or even hire new employees.
There is also one step that the President could take immediately to put more money in people's pockets: Stop purchasing high-priced oil for storage in the strategic petroleum reserve. This reserve is already nearly 95 percent full, yet the President continues to fill it with high-priced oil, taking it off the market and helping large oil companies reap record profits. By momentarily stopping the purchase of oil, the President could help reduce oil costs, lower gasoline prices, and save taxpayer dollars. More money in consumers' pockets is what the economy needs right now, not more record profits for large oil companies.
These are just a few of the ways we can work to kick-start our economy and restore confidence in our market and our products. But to have an effect, we must come together and get this done immediately. Families in western Wisconsin and across the country need to know that help is on the way.