WE’RE TOAST: Senators reach deal to cut stimulus bill to $780B
Grab your wallets ..
With job losses soaring nationwide, Senate Democrats reached agreement with key Republicans Friday night on an economic stimulus measure at the heart of President Barack Obama’s plan for reviving the economy.
And now for the INSIDE STORY …
John McCain, NOT MAKING FRIENDS, on the floor of the Senate today …
“I’ll tell you how we got here, Mr. President. We got here here by the Speaker of the House saying, “We won, so we wrote the bill.” That’s not what the years I’ve been here is called bipartisanship. So without the votes of 11 democrats and without the votes of a single Republican the bill emerged from the other body and came over here… The bill was written with negligible input from this side of the aisle.
So what are we up to now? We are up to approximately one trillion dollars… The Congressional Budget Office yesterday said that this legislation would increase employment by the end of the 4th quarter of 2010 by 1.3 million to 3.9 million jobs… I did the math… A 1.2 trillion dollar bill, 3 million jobs, is $923,997 for each job.
Mitt Romney has serious concerns about the plan …
These are extraordinary times, and like a lot of Republicans I believe that a well-crafted stimulus plan is needed to put people back to work. But the Obama spending bill would stimulate the government, not the economy.
It’s still early in the administration of President Obama. Like everyone who loves this country, I want him to adopt the correct course and then to succeed. He still has a chance to step in and insist on spending discipline among the members of his own party.
Here’s a good list to keep around the house for future reference …
TOP 10 REASONS TO OPPOSE THE STIMULUS: As with medicine, the first rule of law making should be first, do no harm. The “stimulus” bill fails this test spectacularly.
John Hinderaker anticipates the dismal consequences of the Stimulus Bill (it’s painful to continue making that kind of reference):
The important thing, I think, is that Barack Obama and the Democrats own this bill, and they will own the consequences that almost certainly will result: delayed recovery (although this will be impossible to prove), unprecedented deficits, tax increases and inflation. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to come up with better alternatives, most recently John Thune’s proposal to scrub the entire pork bill and:
“…replace it with a $936 billion across-the-board-middle-class tax rebate for 182 million Americans. The amendment would result in a tax rebate of $5,143 for single filers and $10,286 for married couples who file jointly.”
That’s obviously a better idea, but it wouldn’t increase the power of government, so the Democrats aren’t interested.
Wow … Feinstein got everyone’s undies in a wad late today …
Has a new administration ever looked this incompetent? Dianne Feinstein sounded a note of rebellion in the Senate today, threatening to vote against the Obama-Reid-Pelosi Porkulus Bill if it didn’t focus more on actual and immediate job creation than its current version does. When asked whether the Obama administration anticipated this or could give Feinstein those assurances, spokesman Robert Gibbs looked lost (VIDEO AT HOT AIR).
It’s basically a DONE DEAL …
No tags for this post.Senators Reach Tentative Deal on $805B Economic Stimulus Bill. Republican Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins of Maine have signed onto the bill, giving Democrats enough votes to move it forward
