The budget committee chairman has also reintroduced a proposal that replaces traditional Medicare, a government healthcare programme for the elderly, with a government subsidy to buy health insurance for those currently under 55.
With inflation predicted to rise in coming months and to remain above the BoE's 2 per cent target for much of the next two years, the committee's forecasts gave no hint of a resumption of the bank's quantitative easing programme, which creates money to buy assets, but also no sign of a rise in interest rates on the horizon.
Spending cash on share buy-backs boosts earnings per share immediately, whereas a capital-investment programme may actually reduce earnings in the short term.