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RECOVERING THE RECOVERY ACT?

SPECTER HELPS STIMULUS PASS SENATE; HE SHOULDN'T STOP NOW

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (center) played a key role in getting the economic stimulus package through the Senate. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (center) played a key role in getting the economic stimulus package through the Senate. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)Read more

MEMO TO Sen. Arlen Specter: 69 million Americans voted last fall to give Barack Obama, not you, the power to veto legislation.

We're referring to your threat to bail out on your support for the critically needed economic- stimulus package - and for millions of Americans who need help - if the bill's final version isn't exactly what you want.

You did a good job to put together a compromise bill in the Senate. With Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, you defied your fellow Republicans and prevented a filibuster that allowed the $830 billion package to pass yesterday.

But the Senate bill is substantially different from the $819 billion bill passed in the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. So now it must go to a conference committee, which will put together a final version of the bill, which will come back to both the House and Senate for a vote, and when you and the two other senators will again hold the balance of power.

With each week bringing more job losses, there's not a moment to lose, but rubber-stamping the Senate version of the bill could dilute the benefits the spending is supposed to produce.

Experts say that 85 percent to 90 percent of the two bills are essentially the same - spending huge amounts of money to save or create jobs. Both liberal and conservative economists agree that government has to get involved in a big way because the private sector is in too much trouble to do what's needed. They also agree that government spending and not tax cuts is the fastest way to create jobs, which will then spur spending and create demand for American goods and services.

According to most economists, the Senate version would create about a half-million fewer jobs and provide less stimulus to the economy than the House version. In fact, your compromise removed some things that economists say would help the most. Like:

$40 billion in aid to states: States like Pennsylvania. Because they must, by law, pass a balanced budget, states will have to lay off workers - police, firefighters, teachers - if they don't get help fast. And states that contain big cities - like Pennsylvania - are being stressed by the increased services they must supply to those who are losing their jobs. The Congressional Budget Office says money sent to state and local governments is one of the best ways to create or save jobs.

$16 billion in school construction: With a huge backlog of school modernization and repair projects ready to go, this is the kind of infrastructure work that would put people to work nearly immediately - at least 150,000 people, according to the Economics Policy Institute.

Workers in these projects would be employed by small businesses like plumbers, roofers, and window-replacement companies in localities across the country. For every two construction workers added for a project, a third is hired in a business that makes the materials used in construction. The benefits don't end there, as these workers spend their paychecks on other goods and services. And in the end, kids get to learn and teachers get to teach in better surroundings.

President Obama volunteered yesterday that he can't guarantee that every part of his stimulus package will work the way he hopes it will. But you can't guarantee that your compromise is better, and most of the experts say it's not. And it's Barack Obama whom the American people decided to put in charge. There's only one veto pen. And the American people gave it to him.*