MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US stimulus package passed but political system at its lowest

United States President George Bush announced on Friday that the will sign a 168 billion US dollars economic stimulus package approved by the Senate that he said is needed to help boost the slowing economy. The announcement came as an AP-Ipso public opinion poll revealed an all time low support for President Bush and the US Congress.

The legislation would send tax rebate checks to more than 111 million households, probably beginning in May. Lawmakers altered an earlier House of Representatives plan by making 20 million senior citizens and 250,000 disabled veterans eligible for the rebates. "We are in a period of economic uncertainty and we've acted again; I want to thank the members for passing a good piece of legislation, which I will sign into law next week" Bush said in a speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. The package was approved by the Senate with some changes but is likely to quickly pass in the House despite objections. Most middle income taxpayers earning up to 75,000 US dollars will get 600 dollar checks, while couples filing jointly will receive 1,200. Families with children would get an extra 300 per child. In addition to the rebates and incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment, the measure increases the size of mortgage loans that government-chartered mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after the Upper House approved the measure that "this plan will help millions of Americans, tens of millions of Americans". Economic growth in the fourth quarter slowed to a 0.6% pace, and U.S. employers cut jobs in January for the first time in four years, raising growing concern among some economists that the economy may slip into a recession. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the congressional action demonstrates that lawmakers "are concerned about the slowing of our economy, and we want to do something about it very quickly". Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the first rebate checks would go out in May, and the distribution would be done by the end of the U.S. summer. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee who cosponsored the Senate bill with panel chairman Senator Max Baucus of Montana, said the measure should "moderate the anxiety that people have over the economy now". However The Associated Press-Ipsos poll released on Friday showed some of the lowest support for President Bush and the US Congress performance. Only 30% of those interviewed said they like the job Bush is doing, while approval for the US Congress fell to just 22%. Both marks dropped by 4 percentage points since early January. The dour public mood seems to chiefly reflect distress over the doddering economy, which has seen job cuts, financial market slides and real estate losses stoke recession fears. Bush's approval for handling the economy dove to 29%, a slide of 4 percentage points in a month and matching his low on that issue, with noticeable slumps among middle-income people, Southerners and city residents. Bush's acceptance by his own party is also at bottom in the AP-Ipsos poll. Just 61% of Republicans gave Bush positive reviews; his previous low was 65% last month. Only 28% of them expressed strong approval. Congress also hit 22% in October. It usually has lower ratings than the president because it is an institution people love to criticize. Many have negative views of Congress while still supporting their own House and Senate members. Even so its ratings are approaching its historic low in the Gallup Poll of 18% reached in early 1992 during a furor over lawmakers who bounced House bank checks. Only about one in five Democrats, Republicans and independents approve of Congress' work, with less than one in 20 from each group approving strongly. The AP-Ipsos poll was conducted February 4-6 and involved telephone interviews with 1,006 adults. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.