Stimulus Developments * Open Thread
By SusanUnPC on February 6, 2009 at 1:02 AM in American Consumers, Earmarks, Economic Stimulus, Economy, stimulus tax package
Here’s the ascerbic Fox All-Stars panel on Special Report with Bret Baier yesterday on the stimulus package (we’ll have Thursday’s panel opinions in a few hours):
Thanks to CheneyWatch.org for posting
these videos at the NoQuarterUSA YouTube channel
Michelle Malkin reports that “the Squishy Four [Republican senators] are”:
(no surprises here):
Collins (202) 224-2523
Snowe (202) 224-5344
Voinovich (202) 224-3353
Specter (202) 224-4254
BUT THERE ARE “WOBBLY” Democrats as well, reports Time’s Mark Halperin in “Dogs Bark“:
Blue Dog Democrats threaten to walk away from the stimulus bill unless more “wasteful spending” is cut out.
Leaders of the 49-member coalition make the warning in a letter Thursday to Pelosi and Hoyer.
But then there is this news (with an opposite POV below this) — and I must ask if Vegas has odds on this:
“Sen. Reid: We’ve got votes on stimulus,” TheHill.com:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Thursday that he has enough votes to pass a more than $900 billion stimulus bill out of the Senate.
Reid said he believes at least two Republicans of “good will” would support the Democratic-crafted package.
“Do we have the votes? We believe we do,” said Reid, who expects a final vote on the package will be held on Thursday.
It appears the stimulus would attract only a few GOP votes, however, and Senate Democratic leaders distanced themselves from earlier hopes that the economic recovery could draw more Republican support. [...]
Democratic leaders also cast doubt on an effort negotiated by centrists such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to strip as much as $200 billion from the bill.
Schumer said a price tag of $650 billion, which Collins supports for the package, is inadequate.
“If they think they’re going to rewrite this bill, President Obama is going to walk away,” said Reid, when asked about efforts by about 20 centrists to lop off $100 billion to $200 billion from the cost of the package. …
HOWEVER, via The Weekly Standard’s “Harry Hangs It Up For the Night; Stimulus Vote Postponed Until Tomorrow“:
So much for having the votes for the bill tonight, huh? Isn’t this the same mistake Pelosi made on the bailout package the first time around— coming to the floor and overpromising without the votes to make it happen? At least Harry saw the writing on the wall and bailed before an actual defeat on the vote, although I’m not sure the extra time is going to buy him any votes for this version of the bill.
Momentum continues to favor the Republicans’ side of the argument and make red-state Democrats nervous, as a new CBS poll shows that 81 percent of the American public believes the bill should be a bipartisan effort, and only 13 percent believe it’s okay to pass it with only Democratic support.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said tonight shortly before 9 p.m. that he thought it best that the Senate stop legislating for the night and reconvene tomorrow morning with the stimulus package as their first priority. A final vote on the package was widely expected tonight, and Reid called off the proceedings with amendments still pending.
“There are an number of Republican Senators working with Democratic Senators to come up with an alternative,” he said of the negotiations he cited as the reason for holding off. “I think we need tonight and some of tomorrow to see if we can do it.”
If, he said, the parties don’t come to an agreement by tomorrow and it looks as though the Senate is “spinning our wheels,” the Democrat plans to file for a cloture vote.
“Everyone’s gonna have to give a little and understand that this is a process, we have to move this ball down the court,” he said. “I would hope that we could complete this legislation tomorrow. I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do that.”
The new CBS poll also offers this tidbit, which would be helpful to Democrats in coming up with an alternative, if they were actually interested in doing that instead of in spending a trillion dollars on their favorite causes and programs:
Asked whether higher government spending or tax cuts for business would be more effective in ending the recession, 59 percent choose the tax cuts. Just 22 percent prefer more government spending.
Twenty-two percent? No wonder Reid said on the floor earlier that “we should outlaw polls.” They’re nothing but trouble for Democrats.
[...]
WHO are the nervous Democrats? Well they’d be those “Blue Dogs” that Halperin mentioned. If Obama’s plan falls flat on its face – as many predict — and the economy gets worse, unemployment soars, and the stimulus package is seen to not have improved anything, these Democrats who come from more conservative states don’t want a “Yea” vote on THEIR record, and I can’t blame them.
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