Swiftly and Boldly

Over the weekend, President Obama urged Congress to “move swiftly and boldly” to help pull the country out of the current recession by passing his stimulus bill. Yesterday, the House passed the proposed $819 billion package. The plan represents a commendable step toward ending the financial crisis; however, because of concessions made by House Democrats, its passage was considerably more swift than bold.

The portions of the bill that went through provide several key tools to help jump start the economy.

Obama’s stimulus plan provides ample funding to Medicaid services, unemployment benefits and job training programs. Considering that over 2.6 million U.S. workers lost their jobs last year — the most in any year since World War II — these benefits will provide a much-needed boost for the neediest citizens.

But these citizens will not be the only benefactors of the stimulus plan. $37 billion is being allocated to high-tech programs, such as expanding broadband access and investing in preventive healthcare. The plan will also provide funding to improve infrastructure, including bridges and highways. These programs will no doubt benefit college students by creating jobs and improving the quality of the roads we drive on.

The most relevant benefit for students is undoubtedly the money that will be poured into education. Obama’s plan promises to improve public schools, childcare centers and universities over the course of two years, to the tune of $150 billion. This will double the Department of Education’s budget — the largest increase in government education spending in decades — and will give a much needed injection of funding to universities hurting for cash.

Despite its enormous benefits, however, the bill could have been even more effective. In recent days, House Democrats agreed to drop elements of the plan that had been challenged strongly by Republicans, including funding for Medicaid family planning services and, specifically, access to contraceptives for Medicaid patients. Family planning is a vital aspect of any health care regimen, and providing contraceptives to patients who cannot otherwise afford them is an important and relatively inexpensive public service.

While these measures were likely dropped for the sake of political expediency, the bill ultimately passed without a single Republican vote. Clearly, abandoning such important aspects of the bill was not necessary to ensure that it was passed quickly.

We applaud Obama’s plan and the House’s swift vote to pass the measure. In the future, however, we hope that Congress is less quick to settle for the second-best option. In the words of our president, we must act both swiftly and boldly to get the United States out of the current financial crisis as soon as possible.