http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/24/economic.stimulus/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American taxpayers would get checks of
several hundred dollars from the government under a plan to stimulate
the economy, sources said Thursday.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is the administration's point person for the economic stimulus plan.
Congressional leaders of both parties were talking with their membership to sell the plan, sources said.
Sources on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department said
congressional and White House negotiators agreed upon checks of $600
per individual and $1,200 per couple.
A Democratic aide and
Republican aide said there will be an additional amount per child,
which could be in the neighborhood of $300.
Checks could be in taxpayers' mailboxes by June, according to an Associated Press report.
The Treasury Department still must analyze the numbers to determine the price tag of the stimulus package, sources said.
To get to the agreement, Democrats dropped calls for increases in food
stamps and an extension of unemployment compensation. Republicans
agreed to allow people who pay Social Security taxes but not income
taxes to get the checks, sources said.
An announcement on the plan could come Thursday afternoon, the two sources said.
Aides in both parties said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has been
working aggressively in recent days as he tries to make progress before
House Republicans head out of Washington for a legislative retreat at
the end of the week.
To win over conservatives, the package also is slated to include business tax breaks, according to officials in both parties.
The stimulus package may face resistance from fiscal conservatives in
both parties over worries that it would increase the federal debt. The
talks are occurring as auditors report that the federal deficit -- the
difference between what the government takes in and what it spends -- is increasing.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday the deficit
would jump to $250 billion, mainly because of a weakening economy. That
estimate does not include any additional spending that would be part of
a stimulus package.
The proposal is intended to address economic worries
stemming from a worldwide credit crunch created by the mortgage crisis
and plunging stock markets. The president proposed the package last
week.
Officials in both parties credited
Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs executive known for a shrewd grasp of
the markets, with pushing the package aggressively.
"He's been
on the phone with practically every member of Congress -- some of them
a few times," one Senate Republican aide said. "He's not fooling
around."
If this is true we are getting a Wii and my new camera, lol.