Stimulus

After a protracted debate, the Senate passed a pared-down bill Thursday to provide $26 billion in aid to financially strapped states to help pay teachers salaries and Medicaid benefits. The measure signaled the unofficial end to Congress' efforts to stimulate the economy with borrowed money; the new spending in the state aid proposal was more than offset by eliminating a tax break for corporate earnings overseas, rolling back food stamp benefits to pre-recession levels and cutting Medicaid payments for selected drugs.

In February, when Congress approved President Obama's mammoth plan to stimulate the economy, transportation projects were supposed to be among the fastest-acting pieces of the $787-billion package. All 50 states moved quickly to qualify for their share of the money. But since then the pace has slowed considerably, particularly in California and Florida, where the effect of the economic crisis has been especially severe.

The Federal Reserve announced a new program Thursday to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities a month to help stimulate the economy. How will buying bonds help the real estate market and the broader economy? Will it create jobs? Join economy reporter Jim Puzzanghera in Washington, stock market reporter Andrew Tangel in New York and deputy business editor Joe Bel Bruno in Los Angeles for a Google+ Hangout discussion about the Fed's action. We invite you to join in on the conversation by posting comments and questions below on this blog post.

When the Senate voted last week on whether its latest jobs bill would move forward, one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, broke ranks and stood with Republicans to block the measure from getting a final vote. "I've got bailout fatigue," Nelson explained. " Washington needs to put a plug in deficit spending." A bill to extend unemployment insurance and save teachers' jobs shouldn't be this hard to pass. But this one started as a $140-billion stimulus package, was whittled down last week to $118 billion and is now headed below $100 billion.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke won't pull back the central bank's easy money policies any time soon, even as the government is expected to report positive job growth Friday. "Until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established," Bernanke said Thursday. And though the economic recovery "appears to have strengthened in recent months," that growth isn't happening fast enough, he said. That should be clear Friday, when the government is expected to announce that the economy created about 140,000 jobs in January.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.H. - Mitt Romney rounded out a week focused on what he views as overspending by the federal government with a critique of President Obama's stimulus program during a speech in front of what opponents call New Hampshire's "bridge to nowhere. " Romney has argued throughout the campaign that Obama's $787-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a waste of money that did little to jump-start the economy - and he has charged that the federal government has inflated the job numbers associated with various projects.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Settling into a late-morning pancake breakfast with his wife, Janna, and their three children, GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan looked relaxed and said he felt “great” after his debate Thursday night with Vice President Joe Biden. A few journalists were allowed to briefly enter Josie's Grab & Go with Ryan, who answered a couple of questions before they were escorted back outside. One asked if he'd felt “knocked around” by Biden, who was aggressive, frequently interrupted Ryan, raised his voice and laughed dismissively at Ryan's responses to questions posed by the moderator, ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz.

Latino voters? In GOP's dreams Re "DREAM Act may haunt the GOP," Dec. 15 It is no surprise the Republican Party has broken off its tepid seduction of Latino voters by opposing the DREAM Act. In the starkest of terms, the party is demonstrating why. Republicans demand tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires ? at a time of great need for tax revenue ? when the rich are doing just fine and don't even need a tax cut. Thus, Republicans laid bare what nearly everyone knew already: They are the party of the rich, never the party of lower-income people, whose ranks are growing.