We recently wrote that much of the stimulus bill will become a permanent addition to the annual deficit; more than $140 billion a year in our estimation. As it turns out, the effort to make the stimulus bill permanent has already started.
Yesterday the Senate unanimously passed legislation that extends and expands three policies from the stimulus bill that were intended to be temporary: unemployment benefits, the home buyer tax credit, and net operating loss (NOL) carryback for small businesses.
In addition, at his confirmation hearing to become Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, Michael Mundaca said that the Build America Bond program from the stimulus bill is “an “extraordinarily successful program … too successful to allow to go away.”
And finally, the politically popular effort to send seniors needless and costly checks for $250 next year is also an extension of a provision established by the stimulus bill.
Bottom line: not only has the stimulus bill failed to help the economy, it shows no sign of ever going away.