Minnick ready to work on economy

Congress needs to move quickly next year to pass an economic stimulus package that will stabilize the financial markets and create jobs, Walt Minnick said Tuesday.

It can let the federal debt grow but shouldn’t pass a plan that rewards executives for bad choices or raises taxes, the congressman-elect said in an interview during a swing through North Idaho.

“Getting the economy growing is the most essential thing right now,” the Democrat said. “But I’m not prepared to provide a blank check to a new administration.”

Minnick opposed both versions of the financial bailout earlier this fall. He thought the first version allowed banking executives who had ruined their companies to escape with “golden parachutes,” obligated the nation to buying risky assets and lacked meaningful regulatory reform.

That bill failed, but the second version that passed was even worse because it had $140 billion in extra spending, he said.

Congressional leaders have said they want to begin work on a new economic stimulus as soon as the new members are sworn in on Jan. 6, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is aiming to have a bill on President-elect Barack Obama’s desk two weeks later, the day he’s inaugurated.

Minnick said he doubts Congress can properly review and debate the bill and still meet that schedule. It shouldn’t be a “rubber stamp” for the administration, he said.

But he agrees with the urgency and thinks something can be passed in 30 days. A new Congress and administration hasn’t faced such bad economic times since the height of the Great Depression in 1933, he said.

Minnick hasn’t seen any plans yet, but he would support a bill that does more to shore up the financial system and has money for infrastructure and alternative energy projects that have been designed but haven’t been funded.

He’d oppose plans that let shareholders and executives of big corporations off the hook for “the consequences of having guessed wrong.” That includes Detroit automakers who misread the market for fuel-efficient cars and flew to Washington, D.C., in corporate jets to ask Congress for federal aid.

He’d support a tax cut for the middle class, which Obama proposed during the campaign, but would oppose a tax increase on upper income levels during the recession.

“I don’t think now is the time to be raising taxes,” he said.

Minnick has rented a basement apartment about three blocks from the Capitol, has chosen his office – he’ll occupy Room 1517 at Longworth Office Building – and has asked to serve on the Agriculture Committee.