Obama announces Emergency Economic Plan

Sen. Barack Obama announced a dramatic emergency economy plan today.

To help families cope with the rising costs of energy, Obama is proposing an energy rebate of $1000 for families ($500 for individuals).

In addition, the Illinois senator proposes a $50 million economic stimulus plan. Half of the money will go to states to help prevent program cuts due to revenue shortfalls. The other half will fund infrastructure, specifically highways, bridges and schools.

Money for the plan will come from excess oil company profits.

The announcement of the plan demonstrates Barack's recognition of the pressing economic difficulties caused by rising fuel and food prices, dwindling credit, the housing crisis and other factors.

In comparison, John McCain's plan simply calls for a gas tax holiday. How though will the government make up for lost revenues given the already huge budget shortfalls?

Here is Obama's statement on the new plan.

Today, we learned that 51,000 jobs were lost last month, the seventh straight month of job loss – now totaling 463,00 jobs lost since the beginning of this year. I’ve already called for an economic stimulus package on two different occasions this year, and much of what I’ve proposed has passed in Congress. These efforts have made some difference. But with job losses mounting, prices rising, increased turbulence in our financial system, and a growing credit crunch, we need to do more.

That’s why today I’m announcing a two-part emergency plan to help struggling families make ends meet and get our economy back on track. The first part of my plan is a $1,000 emergency energy rebate that could go out to families as soon as this fall. This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next 4 months. Or, if you live in a state where it gets very cold in the winter, it will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills or even to pay down debt. As we provide relief, we must also be mindful of the swelling budget deficit. That is why I am proposing that we pay for this rebate by taxing the windfall profits of oil companies so we can use some of their record profits to help families pay record prices.

The second part of my plan is a $50 billion stimulus to help jump-start job creation and help local communities that are struggling due to our economic downturn. Half of this stimulus will go to state governments that are facing big budget shortfalls. The other half of this stimulus will be used to invest in our national infrastructure, replenish the Highway Trust Fund, rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges, and repair our crumbling schools.

Today’s jobs report is an urgent reminder that we cannot afford four more years of the failed Bush economic policies, and that is what Senator McCain is offering. He’s proposing to cut the gasoline tax paid by the oil companies and trust that they will pass on the savings in the form of lower prices at the pump. And he’s also proposing tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans in the hopes that a little bit of it will trickle down to ordinary Americans. I do not believe that giving $4 billion in new tax cuts to oil companies will create any jobs or save you any money. I believe that if we want relief for families, we should give relief to families, not oil companies. If we want to create jobs, we should do more to make work pay for ordinary Americans, not boost the profits of oil companies. It’s time to restore fairness and balance to our economy and we can start by passing the emergency economic plan that I’m proposing today.

Read the full plan.