By By Lydia Grimes – features reporter
Local residents are wary of the massive spending measures that make up a large part of the economic stimulus package being debated in the U.S. Senate.
The House has already passed the plan, a mix of tax cuts and spending designed to save or create 3 million jobs and jumpstart the ailing economy.
Ray's Cleaners owner Ray Langham said something needs to be done - but the package on the table may not be it.
He agreed with Taylor that too many people live above their means.
The stimulus package proposed by President Barack Obama and passed by the House includes, among other things, money for investment in looking for new energy sources using new technology; money for science and technology, including an expansion of rural Internet access; and funds for infrastructure, including $30 billion for highways and $50 billion for other infrastructure in the nation. Local school districts would also benefit, but senators have been debating whether to include all of that money.
Also in the bill is a tax cut of $500 per person or $1,000 per family over two years, and there would be extended tax credits for working poor with children.
Mary McClelland, who works in the county registrar's office, said she is undecided as to how she feels about the stimulus package.
McClelland said she is not in favor of bailing out particular industries, as happened last fall when many of the nation's banks received $350 billion in federal funding.
McClelland said more help is needed for people who could be losing their homes through foreclosure.
Many economists have said the housing crisis - caused by deflated home values and risky loans to new homeowners - in large part helped create the current recession.