ECONOMY -- SENATE GOP FLOAT $3.1 TRILLION STIMULUS PLAN CENTERED ON TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH:

From The Progress Report, 2/3/09...

Yesterday during a press conference, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reiterated his opposition to President Obama's economic recovery plan, expressing concern about its long term cost. "We have been throwing figures around like it was paper money. We are already looking at, before we even do this, at over a trillion dollar deficit for this year," McConnell said. Other Senate Republicans have echoed McConnell's rhetoric but the only alternative they are offering is a plan written by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) based on a series of permanent tax breaks for corporations and wealthy Americans. According to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis, this plan will cost $3.1 trillion over 10 years -- nearly three times the cost of Obama's plan. Permanent tax cuts are one of the least effective ways of stimulating the economy, according to both Moody's Economy.com and the Congressional Budget Office. Furthermore, slashing government revenues would leave deep structural deficits for generations to come. McConnell is fond of saying that a stimulus bill should be "timely, temporary, and targeted." However, the plan Senate Republicans are backing fulfills none of these criteria.