How to Spend the Stimulus

It's hard to take Republican leaders too seriously when they criticize the recovery plans for the economy; it's sort of like those geese criticizing the evacuation plans for US Airways Flight 1549. Their critiques seem even more comical when you see their alternatives. They warn that President Obama's stimulus package will explode the debt--so they want to make George W. Bush's debt-exploding tax cuts permanent. They say Democratic spending plans are full of pork--then they propose an extra $24 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal equivalent of Oscar Mayer. Let's just say their idea bank could use a bailout.

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But there have been more serious critiques of the $900 billion--plus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--from more serious critics. The stimulus smorgasbord does include some head scratchers, like $246 million worth of tax breaks for movie producers to buy film and $1.4 billion for "rural waste-disposal programs." Principled conservatives worry that it's so big, it will institutionalize Big Government; principled liberals worry that it won't be big enough to resuscitate a flatlined economy. And a bipartisan chorus--including Clinton Administration budget chief Alice Rivlin and Reagan Administration economist Martin Feldstein--has argued that the stimulus package ought to be all about stimulus. Those people want to focus on fighting the recession, and they don't see Pell Grants, renewable-energy subsidies, health-care technology and Head Start as the best ways to do that. "Many of them are worthy, but we can have that debate another day," argues conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks. (See pictures of Barack Obama behind the scenes on Inauguration Day.)

It really does matter how the money is spent. But actually, we had that debate in November, and Obama won. This crisis is an ideal opportunity for him to start keeping his campaign promises: providing tax relief and health security to ordinary Americans, restoring our economic competitiveness and reducing our dependence on environmentally disastrous fossil fuels, which increases the power of our enemies. It's hard to imagine when he'll have a better opportunity. Nothing in the historical record suggests that when Congress has more time to deliberate--and more time to confer with special-interest lobbyists and local-interest political advisers--it enacts fair tax policies, sustainable energy policies, wise infrastructure policies, responsible fiscal policies or any other policies tainted by long-term thinking or national-interest considerations. If Obama wants to push 21st century change through Capitol Hill, he needs to use this emergency.

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See pictures of Barack Obama's college years.