HB 2608 Government Operations Extension/Flood Relief

House Bill 2608 is a bill to continue government operations and fund emergency relief aid, including the damage associated with Hurricane Irene.This bill is going through the same challenge as recent bills., the struggle between deficit spending or trying to balance new spending by eliminating other programs.

The current bill seeks to reduce a loan program through the Department of Energy that assisted automakers in producing vehicles with greater gas mileages. There will still need to be some deficit spending, but some of the costs were offset.

The bill was originally voted down in the house allegedly by Tea Party leaning members seeking more cuts. The bill was reconsidered a couple of days later after discussion within the party and passed.

The approved House version was sent to the Senate, but was then voted down in that body. A lot of the discussion was about the 40,000 or so jobs created for each $1 billion in investment.

We need to decide for ourselves whether we are serious about lowering the deficit. The jobs per billion figure can be used for any sector, but we need to decide if we are going to add jobs simply by paying for them. In the auto industry it would seem to be the marketplace that is driving automobile companies to increase gas mileage. In most industries, it would seem that market-driven changes are simply the cost of doing business.

If we are serious about lowering the deficit, but understand that emergency aid for hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, needs to be passed in a timely manner, this seems like a reasonable compromise. Now that the Senate has rejected the proposal they will need to generate a new proposal for consideration.