Act Now And Save!

President Obama is wheeling and dealing, offering the third of his economic packages this week.  In addition to making the research and development tax credit permanent and calling for infrastructure spending, the President wants to entice businesses to spend on expansion now with a major capital investment credit:  a 100% write-off if they build now.

President Barack Obama will call on Congress to pass new tax breaks that would allow businesses to write off 100 percent of their new capital investments through 2011, the latest in a series of proposals the White House is rolling out in hopes of showing action on the economy ahead of the November elections.

An administration official said the tax breaks would save businesses $200 billion over two years, allowing companies to have more cash on hand. The president will outline the proposal during a speech on the economy in Cleveland Wednesday.

Amid an uptick in unemployment to 9.6 percent, and polls showing that the November election could be dismal for Democrats, Obama has promised to propose new steps to stimulate the economy. In addition to the business investment tax breaks, he will also call for a $50 billion infrastructure investment and a permanent expansion of research and development tax credits for companies.

The proposals would requires congressional approval, which is highly uncertain given Washington's partisan atmosphere. With the public worried about adding to the mounting federal deficits, and Republicans saying spending is out of control, even many Democratic lawmakers are reluctant to approve new spending so close to the midterm elections.

And therein is the problem.  Even Republican tax breaks for businesses are "too much unrestrained spending" right now for Republicans and of course some Democrats, and there's no way any of these plans are going to pass congressional muster.   Republicans will say all Obama has to do is cut a couple hundred billion in social spending and he can have his tax cuts, sure.

Why nobody in the Village is outright saying "Republicans will block this plan regardless in order to deny the President any sort of victory" I don't know.   Instead, it's the couple of Democrats taking the blame, not the 41 Republican senators.