Russ Feingold: “I will support the bipartisan stimulus package today. It is better than doing nothing at all but not as good as we might…”

“I will support the bipartisan stimulus package today. It is better than doing nothing at all but not as good as we might have made it. I commend the Finance Committee chair and ranking member, as well as our majority leader, Senator Reid, for their untiring efforts to make improvements to the House-passed stimulus package. In the last few weeks, there has been a broad consensus that a properly crafted fiscal stimulus package could help ease the economic downturn we are experiencing. The measure passed by the House was a step in the right direction, and the amendment we will adopt today will improve on the House bill. Notably, the bipartisan amendment will ensure that 20 million lower income seniors who rely primarily on Social Security will be included in the tax rebate program, and it will do the same for a quarter of a million wounded veterans with lower incomes. I regret that a particularly effective and desperately needed provision from the Finance Committee proposal was dropped from this agreement; namely, an extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed.”