Pelosi uses meeting with economists to renew push for second stimulus

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) renewed her push for a second stimulus package Tuesday with yet another economic forum designed to build a case for such legislation.

“It’s clear there is a need for a second stimulus,” Pelosi said after meeting with a group of economists. “The president has said we need to wait to see the effects of the first stimulus package. I don’t think we should wait.”

{mosads}Pelosi has been talking up a second stimulus for some time, and inviting economists to the Capitol for a forum has become her preferred method of highlighting the need to spur the economy.

But President Bush continues to resist calls for such a measure, saying the first stimulus should be given time to work before more legislation is enacted. The rebate checks that were the centerpiece of that package have only recently started to arrive.

“First of all, let the first stimulus package have a chance to take effect,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Perino also countered that Democrats could stimulate the economy by passing the Colombia free trade agreement, which Pelosi put off.

Up to this point, Pelosi had been pushing for a stimulus to include unemployment compensation, expanded food stamp benefits and a package of public works projects that would create new jobs.

Unemployment insurance has now been included in the wartime supplemental spending package Democratic leaders are steering through the House this week. And food stamp benefits are to be included in the farm bill.

So some staffers have started remarking that another stimulus bill should perhaps be called a third stimulus package.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Pelosi indicated a new stimulus package would probably include home heating assistance, as well as language that would give states  more federal money to pay for Medicaid costs.

Aides added that public works projects would probably be the centerpiece of such a package, and said it could also include energy tax credits.

Asked why more of these measures hadn’t been included in the supplemental spending bill this week,
House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said he expects political pressure to build for such measures.