This Week on Capitol Hill

Save Our Economy: The economic stimulus package that's been full-court pressed by the administration finally hits the congressional floor this week. The House expects to vote on its version of Obama's economic recovery plan - a $825 billion bill that combines $275 billion in tax credits ($80b of which will come in the form of refundable checks) and $550 billion in funding for schools, health programs, transportation and energy projects, and direct aid for the unemployed. Although the Dems have the numbers to push the bill through, the administration hopes to win over more Republicans who are worried the package is short on tax cuts and low on cash infusions that will have an immediate impact on the economy.

• read more on the stimulus plans circulating in DC

Discrimination by paycheck: Last week the Senate passed a pay discrimination measure, HR 1, the "Lilly Ledbetter" bill, to extend the statute of limitations for pay discrimination lawsuits - from the time a worker is hired to any time a worker gets a paycheck. With a similar bill passed in the House earlier this month, the two chambers may polish off a final version this week.

Kid's healthcare: After coming up short in '07, Congress is trying again early this year to expand health care for kids. Two weeks ago the House okayed HR 2, increasing funding for SCHIP, the state-run program that covers low-income kids that aren't low income enough to qualify for Medicaid. The Senate could follow up this week, upping the number of children covered from 7 to 11 million at a cost of $32 billion over 5 years.

The rest of Congress' early '09 line-up is still in the works. While a few of the president-elect's campaign initiatives will be rolled into the stimulus package - including green energy investment and middle class tax cuts - no one's saying which of Obama's major reform promises will top the agenda, although a few low-hanging fruit have been hinted at for early passage.

• catch cJ's rolling tally of congressional items in Outlook '09

If you want to let your Congressfolk know where you stand on any of the issues above, you can email them through Congress.org, because...

Hey, it's your democracy too.

- teamJoe

Next update: February 2