Stimulus 2.0 -- Senate to Consider Housing Package: Majority Leader Reid may bring a housing-oriented 'stimulus' package to the Senate floor with a vote perhaps sometime next week... The housing piece looks like a grab-bag of provisions:

• a controversial bankruptcy law revision allowing judges to alter home mortgage terms
• increased caps on state mortgage-revenue bonds
• tax breaks for homebuilders

[Query: what makes this a stimulus package? A PAYGO waiver?] Budget -- $20 bn. Real Domestic Discretionary Cap Cut: A Center on Budget report shows that President Bush's proposed Y09 domestic discretionary spending cap amounts to a $20.5 billion cut in real terms... It would mean sizable cumulative cuts in:

• K-12 Education — 9.1 percent below its 2004 level
• Head Start — 12 percent below its 2002 level
• Repairing and Modernizing Public Housing — 45 percent below its 2001 level
• Low-Income Energy Assistance — 22 percent below its 2008 level
• Environmental Protection — 26 percent below its 2001 level