Republicans and some moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill have expressed concern all week about a package of business tax breaks and aid for the unemployed, pointing out that the measure would add to the deficit.þþOn Wednesday, Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, had a very simple message for the skeptics.þþ“Right now, jobs matter more than deficits,” Mr. McEntee said at a news conference at the Capitol. “And even if the deficit is your top concern, imagine what will happen to it if hundreds of thousands more Americans lose their jobs.”þþMr. McEntee and others at the news conference – including Ed Rendell, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, and Mary Kay Henry, the new president of the Service Employees International Union – stressed that the measure would help the economy continue to bounce back and save and create jobs.þþBut deficit hawks in Congress remain worried about the roughly $200 billion package, which only has about a third of its costs offset.þþ“It’s a large number, and it’s an uncomfortable number,” Senator Ben Nelson, the Nebraska Democrat, said recently about the billions of dollars the measure would tack on to the deficit.þþAs it stands, it’s far from certain that both the House and the Senate will pass the measure before the Memorial Day recess. Representative Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said at the Wednesday news conference that the two chambers were working together to find common ground and that House leaders were determined to pass the bill by week’s end.þþ“Obviously when you’re working with two bodies and trying to get everybody on the same page, it takes a little time,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “And that’s what we’ve been focused on. Getting some assurances from those in the Senate that when we pass this legislation, it will pass the Senate.”þ
Source: NY Times
