Economic stimulus

With support from ActForChange and many others, Senate Democrats have held firm against giving tens of billions of dollars in retroactive tax breaks to corporations -- even though President Bush is ramping up the pressure. The Senate needs to hear now that we need recession relief and not special interest tax breaks.

Click here for more information and ways to take action.

Support an economic stimulus plan for the most vulnerable.

from the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network

[10-16-01]

Congress is now considering several pieces of legislation which will make up an economic stimulus package. The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a $99.5 billion package, almost entirely comprised of new tax cuts for businesses and corporations. There is no new money for health care, little money for unemployed workers, and even less money that will get out into the economy quickly.

2001 Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz notes that the President's earlier $1.5 trillion tax cut is actually counterproductive to economic stimulus, because it dries up the money available to government to intervene in emergencies similiar to those arising from the Sept. 11 tragedy.

Four principles for an economic stimulus should be followed:

	the economic stimulus should be temporary;
	it should inject money into the economy immediately;
	it should not drive the long-term budget into deficit spending; and
	it should include government support for low-income people and workers who have recently lost jobs.

Support for those who need it most could come in the form of (1) extended unemployment benefits, (2) the 50 % federal coverage of health insurance continuation for the unemployed, proposed by Senators Kennedy and Baucus, or (3) a payroll tax credit for low-income individuals who did not qualify for this year's $300 tax rebate.

Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support increased assistance for low-income and newly- unemployed workers as the primary component of any economic stimulus package.

U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121

For additional information on the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network, log on to the UCC website.

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An index of our reports from

BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation
to Global Discipleship

A Witherspoon conference
on global mission and justice

September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky

Check out our report from the Conference
on
Terror, Torture,
and Security