–House Approves Aid Package on 247 To 161 Vote
–Legislation Now Goes To President Obama For His Signature

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The House returned to Washington Tuesday for a
one day session in which partisan barbs were exchanged before the lower
house passed a $26 billion aid package to help state governments with
their Medicaid expenses and to retain up to 145,000 school teachers.

The House passed the bill on a mostly party line, 247 to 161 vote

The Senate passed the measure last week.

So House passage of the bill sends the package to President Obama
for his signature. Earlier in the day, Obama urged the House to pass the
bill, saying it included important provisions to help cash-strapped
states.

Obama said the bill would “save hundreds of thousands of additional
jobs in the coming year.”

House Republican leaders derided the package as a “bailout” of
state governments.

The bill provides $10 billion to states to prevent teacher layoffs
and $16 billion for the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor.

It is paid for by tapping funds from an innovation program, cuts
from the food stamp program, and scaling-back a foreign tax credit used
by multinational corporations.

The House, which interrupted its August recess for the vote, will
return to Washington on Sept. 13.

Both the House and Senate are expected to be in session only for
about three weeks before adjourning on Oct. 8 until after the Nov. 2
mid-term elections.

Congressional debate on the fate of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will
dominate the fall agenda, with action on taxes likely to occur in
September.

Neither the House nor the Senate has passed any of the 12 spending
bills for fiscal year 2011 which begins on Oct. 1. Congress is likely to
pass a stop-gap spending bill in September funding most of the
government at this year’s spending levels until after the election.

During the Lame Duck session, Congress is likely to assemble the
various spending bills into one large omnibus spending bill or several
smaller packages.

It is unclear what other measures might be considered by Congress
this fall.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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