In Washington, D.C., on I-395 headed east, just before the South Capitol exit. Google photo of the stretch before the sign was posted.

Elsewhere, The Dallas Morning News reports, “Texas opts not to spend stimulus funds on road signs.”

While not improving infrastructure, manufacturing and installing signs does stimulates the economy, doesn’t it?

With President Obama in Michigan today, let’s also take a look at editorials in the Detroit newspapers:

Detroit News, “Obama’s stimulus plan is not working“:

Instead of more spending, Obama and Congress should turn to the only proven stimulus strategy: cutting taxes. Corporate and individual tax rates should be cut substantially, at all income levels, and the administration should signal that there will be no new taxes for anyone. Taxpayers allowed to keep more of their own money would spread it around the economy and trigger a broad and sustainable rebound.

The president should signal that his No. 1 priority is reviving the economy and set aside those pieces of his agenda — carbon cap-and-trade and health care reform specifically — that carry the serious risk of killing jobs and raising the costs of goods and services.

Detroit Free Press, “Above all, Mr. President, Michigan needs promise of jobs“:

So President Barack Obama makes his first return to Michigan since the 2008 election and plans to put on a big push for community colleges and the kind of training they offer.

Not a bad idea on its face. But Michigan has emphasized job retraining for months, if not years now — and yet people keep losing their jobs, even in supposedly hot fields such as health care.

Seems that Obama might do better to focus on encouraging folks here about how his policies — the stimulus package, in particular — are going to actually put people back to work.

This skepticism from Michigan provides political context, too, helping to explain the low-key, no-news reception the White House gave the union leaders yesterday. (See “Card Check: What a Disappointing Meeting for Labor.”) Perhaps President realized that a exuberant, arms-raised photo-op with the heads of the SEIU or the AFL-CIO would signal to the public that creating jobs was not an Administration priority — satisfying a political constituency was. So the union bosses were kept out of the public eye.

It looks like the White House asked for some back-up too. House Majority Leader Hoyer’s office just released a statement, “Economic Recovery on Track”:

Even before passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama cautioned Americans that economic recovery would take time. Since passage of the Recovery Act, the pace of job loss has eased substantially and the economy is no longer in a freefall. While there is still significant work to be done to restore our economy and bring relief to American families, economic experts agree that the recovery is working as designed and on track to meet its goals. Nearly a quarter of the recovery funds have been obligated in under a quarter of the days allotted.

On track…

(Hat tip for the Detroit editorials: Glenn Reynolds)

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, appeared this morning on CNBC to discuss the economic stimulus, infrastructure and tomorrow’s hearing on the Export Administration Act.

The hearing is by the House Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, “The Export Administration Act: A Review of Outstanding Policy Considerations.” Details.

Vice President Biden is on the road tomorrow, stimulating support for the stimulus.

Troy, New York: “Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to be at Shenendehowa High School Thursday at 1:15 p.m. to talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to an e-mail sent to state Sen. Roy McDonald’s office Tuesday.”

Cincinnati, Ohio: “A limited number of tickets are available for Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Cincinnati on Thursday to see how $1.6 million in federal stimulus money will be put to work at a Northside development project…[snip]Biden will arrive at Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport Thursday morning and travel by motorcade to Northside, where he will see the Factory Square development at the former American Can Co. factory.”

Reading the Post today, you could see where the White House would want to reinforce the message that the stimulus is working.

• “Power of Stimulus Slow to Take Hold“: “Five months after Congress approved a massive package of spending and tax cuts aimed at reviving an ailing economy, the jobless rate is still climbing and the White House is scrambling to reassure an anxious public that President Obama’s prescription for economic recovery is on the right track.”
• Dan Balz, “Obama Stands to Be Judged on Economic Recovery“: “Nothing may be more important to public assessments of President Obama’s leadership than the state of the economy, and at this point there are political warning lights flashing. “
• Michael Gerson, “Obama’s Iceberg“: “The stimulus package hasn’t been very stimulating — as many economists predicted. Pouring money into the economy through a thirsty sponge of federal programs — the preferred method of Congress — is slow and inefficient. In retrospect, all of the stimulus funds should have been given to individuals directly from the tap.”

Remember this?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Now reconcile that with this:

(d) An executive department or agency official may communicate orally with registered lobbyists concerning general Recovery Act policy issues; provided, however, that such oral communications shall not extend to or touch upon particular projects, applications, or applicants for funding, and further that the official must contemporaneously or immediately thereafter document in writing: (i) the date and time of the contact on policy issues; (ii) the names of the registered lobbyists and the official(s) between whom the contact took place; and (iii) a short description of the substance of the communication. This writing must be posted publicly by the executive department or agency on its recovery website within 3 business days of the communication.

(e) Upon the scheduling of, and again at the outset of, any oral communications with any person or entity concerning general Recovery Act policy issues, an executive department or agency official shall inquire whether any of the individuals or parties appearing or communicating concerning such issues is a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. If so, the official shall comply with paragraph (d) above.

The provisions are part of President Obama’s March 20th directive to heads of executive departments and agencies with the subject, “Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds.”

The memorandum contains numerous restrictions on contacts between registered lobbyists and executive branch officials on the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with an emphasis on transparency, speedy reporting of contacts, etc. The requirements are burdensome, will discourage legitimate communications, and one expects they will be inadvertently breached many times. Still, they would seem to pass constitutional muster.

But the restrictions on speaking to public officials about specific projects are an afront to the First Amendment’s protections of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Registered lobbyists live under the same Constitution as the rest of America, and prohibiting one class of people from talking to the executive branch on projects financed by the taxpayers runs counter to this nation’s founding principles and current law.

Politico reports the ACLU, the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and American League of Lobbyists will send a letter to the White House protesting the restrictions. More…

• Associated Press, “THE INFLUENCE GAME: Obama limits stimulus lobbying”
• Marketplace, “Lobbyists fight stimulus talk ban”
• Covington and Burling E-mail alert, “New Presidential Guidance Restricts Lobbyist Communications Regarding Stimulus Funds“

From the Wall Street Journal, “Stimulus’s Winners and Losers”

WASHINGTON — Home builders, new-car buyers and manufacturers are among the major winners in a $838 billion economic-rescue bill passed in the Senate Tuesday while state governments and generously paid corporate executives will be the losers.

The Senate’s economic stimulus package contains several major amendments and saw an overhaul last week when Senate Democrats agreed to changes pushed by Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Ben Nelson (R., Neb.).

And…

Manufacturers, home builders and firms in other sectors that were unprofitable in 2008 and 2009 would gain the ability under the Senate bill to turn their losses into tax refunds. The bill allows them to use those losses to offset tax liability as far back as 2003.

The Senate provision is slightly more generous than a similar 5-year net operating loss carryback provision in the House bill. It would allow firms to carry back 100% of losses, while only 90% of losses would be eligible for the 5-year carryback under the House bill.

“Manufacturing is general is a cyclical industry, so net carryback loss is very important,” said Dorothy Coleman, vice president of tax and domestic economic policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. “Typically any industry that is cyclical would benefit from this.”

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, sent a letter to the U.S. House yesterday expressing support for many of the provisions of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, i.e., the stimulus legislation. The tax provisions would indeed aid economic recovery, and there other areas that — energy and research, for example — where more can be done.

That letter is here. The conclusion:

The NAM recognizes that action by the House of Representatives will be a significant step.
We urge you to move expeditiously to address our economic crisis. Throughout the debate in the
House and Senate, we are committed to working with you to strengthen the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act with additional provisions that will also create jobs and have a highly
beneficial impact on our economy, including needed pension changes, additional tax relief to
accelerate clean coal technologies, incentives to bring foreign earnings back to the United States,
expansion of domestic energy resources, such as offshore exploration, and expansion of our
nuclear energy infrastructure.

Engler appeared on Bloomberg-TV today discussing the stimulus legislation. We have sound clips from the interview, Clip 1 and Clip 2.

From CQ Politics, “House Republicans Praise Obama’s Willingness To Tweak Stimulus Plan“:

House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana said prior to the meeting that Democrats had drafted a purely partisan bill. He said Republican leaders would undertake a public campaign against it. “The American people need to know that President Obama’s call for compromise has been completely ignored.”

But Pence, Minority Leader John A. Boehner , R-Ohio, and other Republicans emerged from the meeting warmly praising the new president’s effort to elicit their views and to work with them in addressing the economic meltdown.

The GOP leaders said after the meeting, which ran 30 minutes over its 45-minute scheduled time, that Obama told them the current House bill — expected to pass Wednesday — is far from the final version. “The most encouraging statement the president made was that he had no pride of authorship” over the House bill, said Minority Whip Eric Cantor , R-Va. “I took that to mean that tomorrow’s vote is a first step,” he added.

Whitehouse.gov posts the President’s comments after the parley. Excerpt:

As I explained to the Republican House Caucus, and I’ll explain to my former Senate colleagues, the recovery package that we have proposed and is moving its way through Congress is just one leg in a multi-legged stool.  We’re still going to have to have much better financial regulation, we’ve got to get credit flowing again, we’re going to have to deal with the troubled assets that many banks are still carrying and that make the — that have locked up the credit system.  We’re going to have to coordinate with other countries, because we now have a global problem.

I am absolutely confident that we can deal with these issues, but the key right now is to make sure that we keep politics to a minimum.  There are some legitimate philosophical differences with parts of my plan that the Republicans have, and I respect that.  In some cases they may just not be as familiar with what’s in the package as I would like.  I don’t expect a hundred percent agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I do hope that we can all put politics aside and do the American people’s business right now.  All right.

Good to see that both President Obama and House Republicans are open to more work to craft a better, more effective stimulus program.

Also good to see Whitehouse.gov posting comments from the President expeditiously. Now if only everything in The Briefing Room wasn’t subsumed under the blog and instead broken out into statements, transcripts, releases, etc., that would help ease of accessing information.

P.S. As for the press secretary’s briefings: Just print the full transcripts!

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s statement, “Hoyer Statement on American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill“:

In the midst of a recession that has already cost our economy 2.6 million jobs, the need for swift action is clear. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill unveiled today will create jobs and strengthen our economy both now and in the future.

The depth of our economic crisis means that the consequences of inaction are far worse, starting with double digit unemployment and even deeper deficits. A recovery package is needed to stop our economy’s downward spiral so that we may then address the underlying financial crisis. Once our economy stabilizes, we must renew our pledge of fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices necessary to rein in deficits and restore balanced budgets.

Finally, the process is not over today. Members of Congress will continue to work on crafting the best package possible, including holding markups on this legislation next week, and I expect to bring the final House bill to the Floor for a vote the following week. I look forward to working further on this legislation that is critical to strengthening our economy and helping American families struggling under this recession.

The text of the draft Appropriations Committee bill is here, a 258-page (.pdf) document. And so we searched using the term, “manufac” and found these references:

Page 47

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
19 For an additional amount for ‘‘Industrial Technology
20 Services’’, $100,000,000, of which $70,000,000 shall be
21 available for the necessary expenses of the Technology In
22 novation Program and $30,000,000 shall be available for
23 the necessary expenses of the Hollings Manufacturing Ex
24 tension Partnership.

Page 71

(10) $1,000,000,000 shall be for expenses nec
2 essary for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
3 authorized under section 136(b)(1)(B) of the Energy
4 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C.
5 17013(b)(1)(B)):

And that’s it, the only specific references.

The committee report is here. It’s 76 pages.