Larry Summers makes the case for the jobs bill

The New Dem/Blue Dog/ConservaDem core in Congress has already started raising hell over giving more money to people who have become so lazy because of their unemployment benefits that they just won't look for jobs. Because, as digby sez "I guess living in your car and digging in trash cans is the new safety net. Plus it's so much better than working."

They're going to have some ammunition on their side over a new CBO report that estimates the "plan would increase deficits $133 billion over 10 years."

However, if Larry Summers is to be believed (and he should know, as director of the White House's National Economic Council) this bill is as close as we're going to get to a second stimulus package, and has to be passed because job growth is still lagging. David Dayen has this excerpt from a subscription only Financial Times story.

The Obama administration made a strong plea to Congress on Monday to grit its teeth and pass a new set of spending measures – dubbed the "second stimulus" by some economists – in order to help dig the economy "out of a deep valley".

The call for action, which was made by Lawrence Summers, Barack Obama’s senior economic adviser, who urged Congress to pass up to $200bn (£138.9bn) in spending measures, came at the same time as Mr Obama asked Capitol Hill to grant him powers to cut "unnecessary spending".

The combined announcements were made amid rising concern that centrist Democrats, or those representing marginal districts, might vote against the spending measures, which include more loans for small businesses, an extension of unemployment insurance and aid to states to prevent hundreds of thousands more teachers from being laid off.

The move comes at a time when last year’s $787bn stimulus is wearing off. Mr Summers argued that it would be a premature move at this stage in the cycle to move to fiscal discipline. "I cannot agree with those who suggest that it somehow threatens the future to provide truly temporary, high-bang-for-the-buck jobs and growth measures," he said. "Spurring growth, if we can achieve it, is by far the best way to improve our fiscal position."

Spurring growth and creating jobs is also the best way to improve Dems' political position. Particularly as growth is going to be slowing now that the first stimulus is "wearing off." Dayen says it best: "The combination of the Euro crisis and the continued lack of lending from the financial sector to small business will cut off the recovery at the knees. We need a short-term jolt, and unfortunately, there’s no WPA on the table, so this is what we’ve got."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/25/869782/-Summers-makes-the-case-for-the-jobs-bill