The Winona Daily News' Mark Sommerhauser reports in Walz backs economic-stimulus concept:
Fresh off re-election to his second term, U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., may team with fellow House Democrats to press President Bush to sign an economic-stimulus bill before President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Southern Minnesota voters returned Walz to Washington, D.C., by a more-than-62-percent margin Tuesday as voters picked Obama and bolstered Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. But the Democrats’ victory party was doused Friday by a dire glimpse at America’s worsening economy: a jobs report that showed unemployment at its highest rate in 14 years.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- citing a need to act quickly -- told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that she may ask Bush to sign a stimulus package that could cost between $60 billion and $100 billion. Walz spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery said Friday that Walz backs the second-stimulus concept. . . .
. . .Salsbery suggested Friday that a second stimulus package could include job-creating investments to rebuild infrastructure and aid to state and local governments saddled with burgeoning budget deficits.
We'll have to learn the details of this before we can comment, but we hope the package will head in those directions, rather than the checks to individuals. We'll see.
Posting at Bluestem will be lighter than usual while we pursue some other projects; readers can look to one or two posts daily until January.
The iconic Miriam Makeba has died after a performance in Italy last night. Here's a clip in her memory:
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