–President Urges Congress To Move Quickly On His Jobs Package
–Congressional GOP Leaders Signal Openness to Parts of Obama Plan
–Congress’s Deficit Reduction Panel To Hear From CBO Chief Tuesday
–Senate Finance Panel To Hear From Greenspan, Others On Tax Reform Tues
–Senate Budget Panel To Hold Thursday Hearing On State of Economy

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Congress will begin to look carefully at
President Obama’s $447 billion jobs package this week, with key
lawmakers expected to study the bill and begin to schedule hearings on
the plan.

In comments Monday morning at the White House, Obama said he will
send the legislative language for his plan to Congress later today.

He said his bill would “put people to work all across the country.”

“This is the bill Congress needs to pass. Not games. No delays. No
politics,” Obama said.

Obama said that next week he will offer a plan to pay for his $447
billion jobs package and to cut long-term deficits.

So far, House Speaker John Boehner has said Obama’s plan “merits
consideration” but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been far
more skeptical.

The plan has about $245 billion in tax cuts, $140 billion in
infrastructure spending and about $62 billion in assistance for
unemployed.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold
Tuesday at 10 a.m. on Obama’s plan. Other major congressional panels are
expected to hold their own hearings in the coming weeks.

Congress’s so-called Super Committee for deficit reduction will
hold its first substantive meeting Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. when
Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf testifies on the
“drivers” of the nation’s soaring deficits and rising debt.

The panel, officially called the Joint Select Committee on Deficit
Reduction, is charged to submit a report to Congress by Nov. 23, 2011
that reduces the deficit by $1.5 trillion between 2012 and 2021.

The final package, if one is agreed to by the majority of the
panel’s 12 members, must be voted on without amendment by the House and
Senate by Dec. 23, 2011.

If the panel fails to agree on a spending cut package or Congress
rejects its plan, a budget enforcement trigger would secure $1.2
trillion in budget savings through across-the-board cuts.

The cuts would be equally divided between defense and non-defense
programs but would exempt Social Security, Medicaid and low-income
programs.

In other action this week, the Senate Finance Committee will hold
hearings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on tax reform options.

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan will testify
at the panel’s Tuesday afternoon session which begins at 2 p.m. The
Finance Committee’s meetings Wednesday and Thursday will begin at 10
a.m.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold two hearings this week on
housing issues. The full committee will hold a hearing Tuesday at 10
a.m. on government guarantees and will hear from think tank experts.

One of the Senate Banking panel’s subcommittees will hold a hearing
Wednesday at 2 p.m. on refinancing and restructuring mortgage loans.

The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing Thursday at 9:30
a.m. on policy steps that can be taken to bolster the economy.

The House Budget Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday at 10
a.m. on tax reform options.

Several subcommittees of the House Financial Services Committee
will hearings this week. One subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday at
2 p.m. on the regulation and oversight of broker-dealers and investment
advisors

Another of the panel’s subcommittees is holding a hearing Wednesday
at 2 p.m. on HUD’s housing counseling program.

The full House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing
Thursday on SEC oversight at 10 a.m.

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will resume
work this week on the 12 annual spending bills for the 2012 fiscal year
which begins Oct. 1.

None of the 12 bills has passed Congress yet.

House and Senate leaders have said a FY’12 stop-gap spending bill
will be needed and is likely to extend until late November.

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

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