Lobbyists bid for pieces of the economic-stimulus pie
Obama hasn't given many specifics or a price tag for his plan, and industry groups are more than happy to offer suggestions.
Reporting from Washington — Since President-elect Barack Obama laid out plans for the largest injection of federal spending into the economy since the New Deal, just about everyone has started angling for a piece of the action.
With estimates of the package, which will be considered by the new Congress starting in January, topping out at anywhere between $500 billion and $1 trillion, ailing sectors such as home builders and sellers, airlines, railroads -- and, yes, the auto industry -- view the stimulus as a means to get healthy again.
That includes the air conditioning industry, America's libraries and even catfish farmers.
All of them, and many more, have deployed lobbyists to Capitol Hill in hope of benefiting from the spending spree.
"The ever-increasing cost of the yet-to-be-seen stimulus is like chum in the water for lobbyists circling to snap up some taxpayer cash for their clients," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group.
The primary goal of Obama's stimulus is job creation. His plan, he says, could lead to 2.5 million new jobs by 2011 and rebuild the nation's crumbling infrastructure, make school buildings more energy-efficient, modernize hospitals and extend broadband to underserved areas.
But so far, Obama has offered little in the way of specifics or a price tag. That is an opening for industry groups with no shortage of suggestions.
"It's not very often business and government run on parallel tracks," said Jerry Howard, chief executive of the National Assn. of Home Builders. "You've got to spend money to make money."
Much of the interest has centered on Obama's pledge to rebuild roads, bridges and highways. The business community, led by the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce, places the emphasis on "shovel-ready" projects that can be undertaken once funding is approved. Otherwise, the chamber says, any jolt to the economy will arrive too late.
Rather than rebuilding highways, a nonprofit group called Reconnecting America wants the government to focus on a "21st century national transportation system" of mass transit and walking and bike paths.
And a consortium of environmental groups has unveiled a $160-billion pitch for "green" stimulus, including investments in national parks, renewable fuels and energy efficiency. Just as notable is what they are lobbying against: any construction work that widens existing roads or builds new ones, which the groups contend would amount to investing in the automobile traffic that contributes to global warming.
