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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Kern who wrote (103316)	2/6/2009 9:50:09 AM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542012

Demonizing one side or the other doesn't get us anywhere, it's just a stale old dead-end road for fingerpointing and venting anger, whatever the merits of a particular instance. I'd prefer that everyone focus on the details and the process. The emergence of a possible moderate Republican bloc that Obama could work with regularly could be crucial: Senate to Try Again on Stimulus After Impasse on Spending Cuts By Brian Faler Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate put off a vote on President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package until at least today after lawmakers failed to agree on how to cut the more than $900 billion package. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, facing demands from a bipartisan group of lawmakers for more than $50 billion in cuts, last night postponed work on the plan until today. As he pushed for a vote on the bill, he also said work on it might continue into the weekend. “The answers aren’t here tonight,” Reid said. “I’m optimistic that we can get something done.” He also said, “Everyone’s going to have to give a little.” Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican leading the push for cuts, said yesterday her Republican colleagues want it to total $800 billion or less. “We’re talking about a substantial reduction in the bill,” she said. “We’re trying to really focus it.” Democratic leaders “are eager for us to produce a bill that can get 60 or plus votes, and that’s what we’re working on,” Collins said. “I do believe at this moment that we’re going to be able to achieve it.” Democrats, who control 58 seats in the chamber, would need the backing of some Republicans to get the 60 votes necessary to end debate on the bill. Obama Speech Obama, in a campaign-style speech tonight, urged lawmakers to set aside “gamesmanship” and finish the legislation. “If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, an economy that is in crisis will be faced with catastrophe,” Obama told House Democrats at their annual retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. “Millions more Americans will lose their jobs. Homes will be lost. Families will go without health care. Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue. That is the price of inaction.” Without directly criticizing Republicans, Obama said that the policies pursued by former President George W. Bush and his congressional allies weren’t the answer to grappling with the current crisis. “We’re not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that in eight short years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,” Obama told the House Democrats. “We can’t embrace the losing formula that offers more tax cuts as the only answer to every problem we face.” House Bill The House last month passed a stimulus package worth $819 billion without any Republican votes. The stimulus package under consideration in the Senate has grown to more than $930 billion after lawmakers added tax breaks aimed at helping the housing and auto industries and a budget increase for the National Institutes of Health. Earlier yesterday, Reid had expressed confidence he could find the votes to pass the bill. “They cannot hold the president of the United States hostage,” he told reporters. Collins responded by warning Reid the stimulus bill’s fate rested with her group. “I would say to the majority leader that his success depends on the success of this group,” she said. Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat also pushing for cuts, said members of the group had trouble agreeing among themselves over what to cut. “Everybody is getting pulled by different groups,” she said. Others demanding cuts included Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Evan Bayh of Indiana, independent Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, and Republicans Mel Martinez of Florida and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. ‘Distant Memory’ Senator Charles Schumer, the No. 3 Democrat, said Obama’s hopes of passing the bill in the Senate with 80 votes were now a “distant memory.” That would require the support of at least half of the chamber’s Republicans. “The real test,” Schumer said, “is not how many votes we get -- that will be long forgotten. The real test is whether this proposal puts Americans to work and gets us out the economic morass we’re in.” During yesterday’s debate, the Senate approved an amendment to the bill that would tighten restrictions on executive compensation at companies getting money from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said his amendment would broaden pay restrictions beyond those announced by the Obama administration. He said it would require the Treasury Department to review bonuses paid to executives at companies receiving federal money and strengthen the agency’s ability to recover bonuses based on “materially” inaccurate earnings reports. Dodd said taxpayers shouldn’t have to finance excessive pay for corporate executives “whose decisions, in many cases, have crippled their firms and weakened the broader economy.”