Progressives pressure Congress to pass stimulus

Nearly two-dozen major
progressive organizations are joining forces for a multi-million-dollar
campaign aimed at pressuring Congress to pass President-elect Obama’s economic
stimulus package in the first hours of his administration.

The effort, dubbed the
Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now, kicks off today with roughly 45
events around the country headed by major unions, healthcare and environmental
advocates and liberal organizations.

{mosads}Organizers estimate the 22
groups would pull together between $4.5 million and $5 million for a nationwide
paid media campaign.

The groups won’t push for
specific measures to be included in the bill, instead calling for quick action
on the broader bill that results in a landslide vote.

“In my lifetime,
certainly, we’ve never seen an economy in free-fall as it is now,” said
Dean Baker, co-president of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
“Sector after sector of the economy is just seeing an unprecedented
decline.”

The recovery package
“needs to be big enough to solve the problem; it needs to be targeted so
that it boosts the economy in the near term, but also that it lays the
groundwork … for the long term,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of
Americans United for Change.

Passing big spending
measures by narrow margins is an unattractive prospect to the incoming Obama
administration. The president-elect is wary of repeating President Clinton’s
mistakes in the early days of his administration when, despite big majorities
in both chambers of Congress, many legislative priorities passed or failed by
just a handful of votes.

Now, said Woodhouse, the progressive organizations are aiming for as
many as 315 votes in the House, a margin designed to put pressure on Republican
senators to back the effort.

“If we can get 290,
300, 315 votes out of the House, and that may be wishful thinking, it would
give us momentum for the Senate,” Woodhouse said.

The groups are likely to
target centrist Republicans, such as Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.), Mel Martinez
(Fla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), George Voinovich (Ohio)
and Richard Lugar (Ind.), with the goal of exceeding the 60 votes in the Senate
needed to overcome a filibuster.

In order to spur Congress to action, the groups are launching what
USAction program director Alan Charney called “the most unprecedented
campaign that progressives have mounted in recent history.”

“Come January, we will
be out in the streets at the state houses and mayors’ offices, at the district
offices of members of Congress,” Charney said. “This will only pass
in a very big, bold and broad way when the grassroots of America stand
up.”

Though some liberal organizations and activists have complained in
recent weeks about Obama’s selection of centrists and even some Republicans for
his Cabinet, progressive groups launching the campaign to aid the stimulus plan
said they were happy with the selections so far.

“We are very pleased in
the direction that the administration is going in on economic policy,”
said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future.

Added Woodhouse, “We
think that we’ve helped elect what is likely the most progressive president in
modern history. From our perspective, we’re very excited about the prospects
for his presidency.”