On Oct. 30, a group of economic experts testified before the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on the necessity and scope of a second economic stimulus package. While committee members and witnesses agreed on the severity of the ongoing economic situation, there was a clear ideological divide on which course of action Congress should pursue. At the center of the divide were the competing concerns for families facing certain hardships inflicted by a contracting economy and for the consequences of an increase in the federal budget deficit, which would be required to aid those families and help reverse the current economic trend.