Re: Watch sausage being made: Bipartisan group of ~20 moderates works on stimulus package
- From: freeisbest <demeter547opine@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 07:36:14 -0800 (PST)
On Feb 6, 8:37 am, GLOBALIST <free.tun...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Feb 6, 7:09 am, freeisbest <demeter547op...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_go_co/congress_stimulus
Yahoo! News
Moderates seek bipartisan OK of stimulus package
By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer 4 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Senate moderates seeking to pare back Barack Obama's
economic plan are rekindling their efforts in hopes of building a
bipartisan vote that eluded the president in the House.
A group of nearly 20 moderates from both parties — more Democrats than
Republicans — huddled off and on all day Thursday in hopes of cutting
as much as $100 billion from Obama's plan, which ballooned to $937
billion on the Senate floor, with further add-ons possible during a
long day of votes Friday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., displayed impatience with
the moderates, led by Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.,
at a midday news conference, but he lent them encouragement as he sent
senators home later Thursday.
"It's gotten more encouraging and that's because the leadership has
indicated that they have some appreciation for the work that this
bipartisan group is doing," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "It's still
got life. It's still breathing."
A roster of $88 billion worth of cuts was circulating, almost half of
which would come from education grants to states, with an additional
$13 billion in aid to local school districts for special education and
the No Child Left Behind law on the chopping block as well. Some $870
million to fight the flu was among the first items to go, but other
items divided the group.
At the same time, the group also was hoping to add perhaps $25 billion
in additional infrastructure projects.
"We've added more tax cuts and tax relief. We've trimmed out some of
the fat and now we have to add a little muscle," Landrieu said,
referring to additional infrastructure spending.
If the group fails to reach an accord — or if it won't fly with
Democratic loyalists — the alternative for Reid is to try to ram the
measure through with just a few GOP supporters, such as Olympia Snowe
of Maine. He expressed confidence he has the 60 votes needed to press
it through if need be.
The massive measure is a key early test for Obama, who has made it the
centerpiece of his fledgling presidency. Obama embraced the moderates'
efforts, saying he would "love to see additional improvements" in the
bill.
Speaking to a House Democratic retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Obama
pushed Democrats to avoid political gamesmanship and get a stimulus
bill to his desk by next week.
Voters who ousted Republicans from power "didn't vote for the status
quo," he said. "They sent us here to bring change. We owe it to them
to deliver."
The Collins-Nelson group is hoping to bring the measure's cost down to
the $800 billion range, though they were working from the $885 billion
measure that came to the floor — ignoring the more than $50 billion in
add-ons added over the past three days. A recalculated cost for a
popular plan to award a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit pushed the
overall price tag to $937 billion.
On the Senate floor, Democrats continued to flex the muscle of their
expanded 58-41 majority, easily killing efforts by GOP conservatives
to replace the bill with versions containing more tax cuts and less
spending.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama's vanquished rival for the White
House, said that public opinion was shifting in the GOP's favor as he
advanced a $421 billion plan, less than half the White House-backed
measure. It lost 57-40.
McCain's plan contained a one-year cut in the payroll tax, which would
help all wage-earners, as well as reductions in the two lowest income
tax brackets that would benefit only those who earn enough to pay
income taxes.
Another proposal, by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., was designed to reduce
mortgage rates to as low as 4 percent for millions of homeowners. It
was defeated on a vote of 62-35.
Despite their numbers, many Democrats, including newly elected
freshmen such as Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Udall of Colorado,
want to see less long-term spending and more items directly related to
job creation.
And while polls show Obama is popular and the public supports recovery
legislation, Republicans have maneuvered in the past several days to
identify and ridicule relatively small items in the bill.
____________
President Obama has tried and tried to invite the Republicans
to contribute to this bill. I think at this point the failure to do so,
is on them. I think now...he is thinking..."Fuck 'em...Shit or
get off the pot."
There does seem to be a lot of repub-generated fecal matter in
the mix. As the last sentence of the article says:
"And while polls show Obama is popular and the public supports
recovery
legislation, Republicans have maneuvered in the past several days to
identify and ridicule relatively small items in the bill."
IOW, Repubs are acting like a 50's Sci-Fi movie - lurching along
in lockstep, controlled by the spongy alien mass on the back of their
necks, looking for someone to destroy...
.
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