Jess Martinez does not like debt.
Martinez, a sophomore in physical therapy, avoids borrowing money from her friends, despises credit cards and wants the national government to avoid adding to debt from the financial crisis.
“My parents were in debt when I was a child,” she said. “Debt is not fun. It limits what you can do in the future. I worry the current financial plan will hurt America in the long run.”
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill proposing a stimulus package worth $819 billion. The Senate is expected to vote on a similar bill Tuesday. Both bills still need to be signed by President Barack Obama, who encouraged their development.
Democrats are hailing the bills as solutions to revamp the stagnant economy through tax breaks, building projects, energy development and education.
However, some Republicans, such as Martinez, worry the investment’s price tag is too high. The House stimulus package received no votes from Republicans while most Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
Utah is likely to receive just $1 billion of the $819 billion. This is partly due to Utah’s small population, but is also because Utah’s government is more financially stable than those of other states, such as Michigan.
Dan Sorensen, a freshman in nursing pre-medicine, said he has confidence in the ideas behind the stimulus packages, but questions whether or not they would work in real situations.
“I like that an emphasis is placed on energy development,” he said. “But I am not sure how that will create more jobs in the end. There will be less people needed because machines will be more efficient.”
Hank Thorogood, a junior in marketing at Weber State University, said his biggest concern with the stimulus package was tax cuts. The bill passed by the House calls for $275 billion in tax cuts.
“They want to pay for over $600 billion new projects and new funding, but don’t want to raise taxes, or at least keep them the same?” he said. “How are they going to pay for all of this?”
But Thorogood said he was happy to see attention was given to students of higher education. The House bill provides for a $2,500 tax credit for students of higher education.
The bill also provides for a $15.6 billion increase to the Pell Grant Funds, and $6 billion for the modernization of higher education.
“I think this package is going to stop the bleeding and get America back on its feet,” said Jared Wilkinson, a student at Salt Lake Community College. “America is financially sick right now, and Obama and the congressmen alongside him are giving America financial medicine.”
Wilkinson said the stimulus package could be the next New Deal, comparing it to a series of legislations encouraged by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s.
Nate Anderson, a junior in business, said he does not like the stimulus package but understands it might be the only way to get out of a recession.
“A stimulus package is a necessary evil,” he said. “It might take us 10 years to dig out of the debt we create, but it is better than 20 years of digging out of a financial depression.”