The NAM this morning sent a “Key Vote” letter to the House and Senate in support of the conference report on H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That letter is here.

An earlier (Thursday) letter detailing more fully the NAM’s position and suggested areas of improvement is available at this post.

Washington Post, “In Midwest, Obama Sings Praises of Stimulus Plan“:

EAST PEORIA, Ill., Feb. 12 — President Obama on Thursday touted the $789 billion economic stimulus package nearing congressional approval, telling workers at a huge manufacturing plant here that “a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed all across America” once the plan is enacted.

The Post’s story is built around the President’s appearance at the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Ill. Caterpillar and its top executive, Jim Owens, are advocates of expanded trade opportunities. So…

While Owens supports the stimulus plan, he is part of a group of manufacturing executives who had expressed concern that a “buy American” provision in the stimulus legislation could lead to retaliatory actions by other countries. The provision would require infrastructure projects in the stimulus bill to be built with U.S.-made iron and steel.

The final version of the stimulus bill includes the provision, although it says it must be applied in a manner consistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements.

“Absence of that wording would be perceived as violating our trade agreements and risking retaliation by countries accounting for 80 percent of our exports,” said Franklin J. Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. “Even with that language, the provision affects countries not participating in the World Trade Organization agreement or not having a bilateral trade agreement with the United States.”

And a reasonable Washington Post editorial, “A Fiscal Gamble — The stimulus package isn’t pretty, but it is a risk worth taking.”

Finally, Bloomberg reports on the weakened tax provisions included in the final conference report, a set-back for manufacturing and the economy, “Tax benefit push falls short“:

WASHINGTON — The National Association of Manufacturers lost a last-minute lobbying campaign to fully restore a business tax break that House and Senate negotiators all but eliminated from the $789 billion economic stimulus bill.

Instead, lawmakers agreed to make more companies eligible for the tax break while still shutting large companies out of the benefit, according to a description released by the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees.

For the NAM’s view of these developments, the tax provisions, and our support for final passage, see this statement and letter posted at Shopfloor.org last evening.

NAM President and CEO John Engler issued a statement this evening in support of the conference report on H.R. 1, the economic stimulus bill. The NAM supports the measure but is not issuing a “Key Vote” letter on the conference report:

The economic situation that our country faces is unprecedented. Nearly 600,000 jobs have been lost since the beginning of this year and almost 4 million jobs have been lost in the past year. Day after day, more companies are forced to reduce their workforce to stay financially stable.

Our member companies from around the country are telling us they agree with Congress and the Administration that decisive and immediate action is critically necessary to spur economic revitalization. They understand that the conference version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is not perfect but they believe the overall plan is an acceptable balance of tax cuts and investment designed to help job providers and the people who depend on them.

We view this bill as a very positive first step in promoting our nation’s economic revitalization. It is clear to NAM members that more needs to be done to revive our economy and ensure durable economic growth in the future, particularly in light of the current credit crunch and liquidity problems faced by manufacturers. It is critical that Congress and the Administration further expand tax relief for struggling companies of all sizes, lower tax rates on overseas income reinvested in the United States, provide temporary funding relief for companies that sponsor traditional pension plans and provide additional incentives to jumpstart the housing market. We support this legislation and urge Congress to pass it without delay.

Manufacturers recognize that immediate action is needed to address the unprecedented challenges faced by all sectors of the economy. There is more work to be done, and we will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to advance follow-on legislation that will help all manufacturers and our nation’s entire economy get back on track and ensure job creation and sustainable economic growth.

In addition, NAM’s President sent a letter to the House and Senate reprising the above points and providing more detail on the manufacturing sector’s support for more tax provisions to encourage economic growth and jobs creation, i.e., a more robust Net Operating Loss provision (in the Senate version), a reduced “toll charge” to encourage companies to bring money back home from overseas, pension relief and a home buyer tax credit.

The economic situation that our country faces is unprecedented. Nearly 600,000 jobs have been lost since the beginning of this year. Almost four million jobs have been lost in the past year. Day after day, more companies are forced to reduce their workforce to stay financially stable.

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Bloomberg, “Congress Cuts Big Business Tax Break in Stimulus Bill“:

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) — House and Senate negotiators all but eliminated the biggest tax cut for businesses in the compromise agreement on an economic stimulus bill, Senator Max Baucus of Montana said.

The provision, a top priority of business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, would let companies convert losses into tax refunds.

The provision is the “net operating loss” relief, enumerated as a priority for manufacturers in the NAM’s recent “Key Vote” letter on H.R. 1. More from the Bloomberg story:

Monica McGuire, senior policy director in charge of taxation for the manufacturers’ association, said omitting the provision would diminish the legislation’s stimulus effect.

What McGuire termed the “gutting” of the relief provision “doesn’t contribute to an effective recovery package,” she said. “Restoring adequate tax relief for struggling companies is about helping a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to retail; no plants, no workers.”

So report multiple sources, including The New York Times, “Congress Appears Close to Agreement on Stimulus“:

WASHINGTON — After a lightning round of negotiations with the Obama administration, Congressional leaders closed in on a $789 billion economic stimulus package Wednesday afternoon that would pare back Democrats’ proposed spending on education and health programs in favor of tax cuts needed to win crucial Republican votes in the Senate.

Mike Campbell, chairman of the NAM’s board of directors, participated in a news conference this morning with Democratic Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sherrod Brown of Ohio and other supporters of the stimulus package, H.R. 1. As he said:

“Manufacturers recognize that immediate action is needed to address the unprecedented challenges faced by all sectors of the economy,” Campbell said. “Consequently, we strongly support efforts to advance legislation that combines timely, targeted tax incentives and increased investment in areas critical to U.S. competitiveness. A balanced tax and investment package designed to help job providers and the people who depend on them will help get our nation’s economy back on track and ensure job creation and sustainable economic growth.”

We’ve put the entire news release from the Senate Democrats in the extended entry.

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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.”

While most of the national media concentrates on the troubles with President Obama’s Cabinet, the Washington Post leads with the BIG NEWS.

From “Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus“:

Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy.

The legislation represents the first major test for President Obama and an expanded Democratic Congress, both of which have made economic recovery the cornerstone of their new political mandate. The stimulus package has now tripled from its post-election estimate of about $300 billion, and in recent days lawmakers in both parties have grown wary of the swelling cost.

Moderate Republicans are trying to trim the bill by as much as $200 billion, although Democrats working with those GOP senators have not agreed to a specific figure.

We respectfully suggest a course of action,  a stimulus plan that embraces the provisions identified by the National Association of Manufacturers as having the most beneficial effect on the manufacturing sector and the economy in general.

NAM President and CEO John Engler sent a letter to Senate leadership Monday identifying top priorities for effective economic stimulus. Text follows:

Dear Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Senator Durbin, and Senator Kyl:

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is gratified by the commitment of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional leadership and the Obama Administration to move quickly on a legislative package to help get America working again. Manufacturers recognize that immediate action is needed to address the unprecedented challenges faced by all sectors of the economy.

NAM members believe a balanced, fiscally responsible tax and investment package designed to help job providers and the people who depend on them, will go a long way to spur economic revitalization. To this end, we strongly support a number of provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (S. 1) scheduled for debate this week and encourage you to consider additional changes that will ensure that the tax and investment provisions have an immediate and direct impact on our economy. Legislation that combines timely, targeted tax incentives and increased investment in areas critical to our competitiveness will help get our nation’s economy back on track and ensure job creation and sustainable economic growth.

In particular, the NAM supports the following measures:

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The NAM’s President and CEO, John Engler, was in NYC Wednesday for business and included several meetings with the media in his day. Here are two video interviews with Roger Parloff, senior editor of Fortune.

• Stimulus hazards*
• Wall Street’s confidence crisis*

From “Stimulus hazards”:  

We think in the package, the stimulus package, the infrastructure investments are solid, could be more of them. They need to be focused on what will work to improve America’s competitiveness long term. We certainly think some of the tax cuts are helpful; they should be permanent and send a real positive signal about our intent to compete.

There’s a lot of spending in there that I would say is suspect. When you get $800-billion-plus in one spot, a lot of people are going to be reaching their hands in, hoping for a share of that. What we’ve got to be focused on, is with the long-term debt that we’ve got in the entitlement programs, with the deficit in the national budget and the deficits in the state level, the money we spend better be targeted well.

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!