Hoyer: Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance 2 'Most Stimulative' Things for Economy
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Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Hoyer: Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance 2 'Most Stimulative' Things for Economy By Elizabeth Harrington July 17, 2012
(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that food stamps and unemployment insurance are the two "most stimulative" t things you can do for the economy.
During a pen and pad briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill, Hoyer was asked if any Democrats are “reconsidering the wisdom” of letting the Bush tax cuts expire at year’s end for the top income earners given the still struggling U.S. economy.
"I haven’t talked to any who are of that mind," said Hoyer. "If you talk to economists, they will tell you there are two things that are the most stimulative that you can do -- one’s unemployment insurance, the other’s food stamps, okay?”
“Why is that?” he said. “Because those folks who receive those resources must spend them. And they’ll spend them almost upon receipt. Most economists with whom I talk believe that those with significant discretionary income, that that’s not the case.”
Unless action is taken by Congress, the Bush tax cuts will expire on Jan. 1, 2013. Originally enacted in 2001 and 2003, President Barack Obama and Congress renewed the cuts for all income-brackets for two years in 2010.
Obama and the Democrats are now proposing that the rates be extended for one more year, until the end of 2013, for people earning less than $250,000 a year, while Republicans want the rates extended for people in all income brackets.
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