CAPITOL HILL - A day after President Bush urged Congress to pass the economic stimulus package he negotiated with leaders in the House of Representatives, lawmakers turned their attention to doing just that. The House is expected to vote on the legislation later Tuesday, and the Senate is likely to follow suit later this week.

The House of Representatives is considering a $150 billion bill that would give more than 100 million families tax rebates in amounts ranging from $600 to $1,200, depending on income levels. The aim is to give Americans cash to spend immediately to help spur the economy.

In the Senate, the legislation is slightly different. That bill would offer a different level of tax rebates and extend unemployment benefits - a provision opposed by President Bush.

At a Senate Budget Committee hearing, the U.S. Comptroller General David Walker would not comment on either bill, but said a stimulus package should have three qualities.

“It needs to be temporary, targeted, and it needs to be timely,” he said.

The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, questioned whether the stimulus proposals would actually do much to jump-start the U.S. economy - since many consumer goods sold in the United States are made elsewhere.

“If somebody goes out with their $600 rebate and buys a television made in China, or if they buy a washing machine made somewhere else, if the product is not physically produced here, then basically you are not stimulating our economy, you are stimulating the economy where the product is produced,” said Gregg.

The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, backs the stimulus bill. But he is troubled by President Bush’s call to Congress to make his tax cut proposals permanent. Senator Conrad says he believes the plan would increase the national debt.

“We see where we are headed: the debt absolutely explodes,” said Conrad.

The Senate is to take up its economic stimulus bill Wednesday.

Source:  VOA News