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On Wednesday the Senate approved a bill to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Many of these workers became sick from breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke from the attacks, which is why this bill was created. The vote was passed by unanimous consent. It came soon after a deal was reached between conservative Republicans and Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrats of New York. Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand agreed to changes demanded by the conservative lawmakers, who raised concerns about the measure’s cost. These same conservative lawmakers in fact prevented the bill from advancing in the Senate. After drawing criticism in recent days from Democrats and Republicans alike, the Republican senators backed down. Under the new agreement, the bill provides $4.3 billion over five years for health coverage to the 9/11 workers, instead of the original $7.4 billion over eight years.

I understand why this bill had unanimous support as it is one which provides health care for the courageous people who served as first responders to 9/11. In a joint statement Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand declared this bill will “protect the health of the men and women who selflessly answered our nation’s call in her hour of greatest need”. An interesting point was stated by one of the main critics of the bill, Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma. His problem was not providing these heroes with money but it was the amount of money that was being provided. Although he expressed satisfaction with the legislation’s final price tag he stated that, “it is not compassionate to help one group while robbing future generations of opportunity”. He makes sure to provide the heroes of today with money while also being cognizant of the fact that the heroes of tomorrow may also need money.

The Assembly of Executives

On Wednesday President Obama will host a roundtable with about 20 corporate chiefs. Executives from many different industries are expected to come including American Express, Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical, Google, Motorola, Intel, UPS and PepsiCo. However the White House said it would not divulge attendees until the meeting. Mr. Obama and the executives will discuss a variety of issues such as deficit reduction, an overhaul of the tax code, government regulation, export promotion and public-private investments in areas like technology and clean energy, and efforts to improve education and job skills. The main concern being addressed is not competition between Democrats and Republicans but making sure we are preparing the next generation to compete globally. The partnerships the administration had developed early on were quickly frayed by differences over subsequent White House efforts, especially on overhauling the health insurance and financial regulatory systems and he hopes to repair some of them.

I think this roundtable of leaders and executives of important companies who have a huge impact on today’s economy and a societal impact, is very smart of President Obama. It is important that our government goes beyond just dealing with themselves and doing interior business. They need to stretch out to being involved with other agencies and companies and being acquainted with other outside influences. Our government is not the only power that has an effect on the lives of American citizens and it seems that President Obama realizes this. It is also a very intellectual move on his part because many of the partnerships he did have were severed and this meeting will hopefully allow him to ease strained relations with business and continue building on ones he still may have.

The Tax Dilemma

Most recently there has been a lot of debate about proposed tax raises and tax cuts. Just this Saturday the Senate rejected President Obama’s proposal to raise taxes for the highest-income Americans. Obama’s plan would have extended the lower rates on income up to $250,000 a year for couples and $200,000 for individuals. Obama’s plan was approved by the House but it did not have the 60 votes required to get passed by the Senate. The White House and Congressional leaders are now discussing a deal to extend the reduced tax rates at all income levels, at least temporarily, perhaps for two years. But as the Democrats in the Senate and the White House are split on their views, and many do not want to continue Bush’s economic policies, compromise seems difficult. If Congress does not act, the tax rates expire for everyone on Dec. 31. This means the rate in the lowest bracket would rise to 15 percent from 10 percent and in the highest bracket to 39.6 percent from 35 percent.

I think that the consequences of the absence of a decision make agreeing on these tax rates all the more important. If there is no agreement then there will be a raise for everyone no matter what their income is. I think that whatever action is taken, whether it is a tax cut or a tax raise, the income tax should remain graduated as the government should understand that some for some people, they need all the money they have and for others with a lot of money, they don’t need all of it that much. I’m unsure of how much taxes benefit the economy, but I think that since most of middle and lower class America is suffering heavily from the economy than their taxes definitely shouldn’t be raised. I think that of the different propositions and ideas I would agree with the raising taxes for one million dollar incomes and above since people with that much money are not nearly as affected and damaged by the economy as lower and middle class America.