Democrats Considering Second Stimulus Package

Nervous Democrats on Capitol Hill are reportedly considering another huge government spending bill to try and wrest the economy out of the doldrums. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said yesterday that Congress would, "keep the door open," to a second stimulus bill in two months. The Obama Administration has not called for a second stimulus package, yet. But when asked about the possibility yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I wouldn't foreclose on it." Perhaps an unfortunate choice of words given the state of the U.S. economy.

House Approriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) backed up Pelosi's comments, telling reporters that he has already instructed committee staff to begin drafting a second stimulus bill. Obey added however that there was no timeline for action on such a package. Later, Democratic aides tried to walk back both Pelosi's and Obey's comments. Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the the Speaker meant to say that Congress would continue to monitor the economy, "to see if additional action is necessary." And several Democratic aides said that Obey misspoke when he said that his staff was already working on a second stimulus bill, denying that a package is in the works.

Democratic economist Mark Zandi seemed to spark the nervousness on the Hill when he told Congress that stimulus bill passed in January would not live up to expectations. The Obama Administration had set a benchmark for the bill, saying that it would, "create or save" 3.5 million jobs. Zandi said that the actual number of jobs from the bill will come in over a million under that target.

A second stimulus bill so closely on the heels of the largest single spending bill in the history of the United Sates, not to mention the just signed $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill, would be the height of folly. In selling the first stimulus, Democrats and the Obama Administration said that the bill was absolutely necessary to rescue the floundering economy. Now, just two months later, those sentiments are apparently no longer operative. Democrats know that their reelection prospects are in large measure tied to the success or failure of their plans to turnaround the economy. That they are preparing so soon to abandon the $787 billion stimulus bill speaks volumes about the direction Democrats see their political futures headed.