Obama Calls for 2nd Stimulus, Adding to $1.6 Trillion Deficit

(Washington Times) - Though he didn't call it a second stimulus, President Obama this weekend asked Congress to pass legislation that amounts to much the same thing: extending some of the first stimulus bill's programs and adding some of the White House's new priorities such as small-business lending and a tax on big banks.

Five months from congressional elections and with the job picture still gloomy, Mr. Obama said the country is "at a critical juncture" economically. He asked lawmakers to pass a bill that would fund state and local government jobs and encourage small businesses to hire.

It's a tall order for a Congress already feeling spending fatigue and uncertain what it has to show for last year's $862 billion Recovery Act.

"If we allow these layoffs to go forward, it will not only mean hundreds of thousands fewer teachers in our classrooms, firefighters on call and police officers on the beat, it will also mean more costs helping these Americans look for new work," Mr. Obama said in a letter to Congress late Saturday.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said he found the late-night weekend letter odd, especially because he and other congressional leaders met with the president last week and the topic didn't arise.

"Steny and I and other leaders were at the White House on Thursday and this subject never came up. There was no indication this was going to happen, and I'm asking myself, why is this happening on a Saturday night?" he said on ABC's "This Week" program, where he appeared with House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, to spar over the direction of Congress.