Senate advances stimulus package

[kpete]

Source: Politico

Senate advances stimulus package
By DAVID ROGERS | 2/9/09 6:16 PM EST Text Size:


Spurred on by President Barack Obama, an $838 billion economic recovery plan advanced in the Senate Monday, clearing a last procedural hurdle with the help of three Republicans and the return of Sen. Edward Kennedy, ill with cancer.

The 61-36 roll call vote – with Republicans Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter voting yes — set the stage for passage Tuesday. And it capped a day in which Obama grabbed hold of the presidential microphone as never before, campaigning in the industrial Midwest and then preparing to host a primetime televised press conference back at the White House.

With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner scheduled to speak Tuesday on the banking and foreclosure crisis, the administration seems intent on conveying a greater urgency—and more human face—to a complex agenda that can seem a maze of frightening numbers to nervous voters.

“We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression,” the president said at a town hall appearance in Elkhart, Ind. “Economists from across the spectrum have warned that, if we don't act immediately, millions of more jobs will be lost…And our nation will sink into a crisis that at some point we may be unable to reverse.”

Geithner’s Treasury speech is confined to the second half of a $700 billion financial markets rescue fund already approved by Congress last fall. But with banks teetering near insolvency, the government will almost certainly need much more soon and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested the White House was “trying to kind of slow walk the cumulative effect of quite a lot of spending.”



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18628.html

[smiley_glad_hands]

1. Now that it can no longer be filibustered, i hope the conference committee adds the education

spending back in.

[scytherius]

3. So what is the rule on that if someone could tell me

You'd think I'd know after following politics all these years. If it comes back changed from committee, they can't filibuster now under any circumstance?

[jwirr]

7. I do not know the specific rules but from watching other bills through

the years what usually happens is that they wheel and deal using the differences as the high/low guideline and come up with something in between.

[Psephos]

12. After it comes back from the House/Senate conference, it has to be voted on again to pass

Those who voted on it the first time are not obligated to do so again.

Yes, it can be filibustered during the post-conference vote.

[midnight]

8. As long as the education dept. gets rid of no child left behind.

I would hate to see anymore money being wasted on that program.

[Earth_First]

11. Bingo! n/t

[endarkenment]

2. Good.

Now get on with it.

[Winterblues]

4. $838 billion???

I thought it was going to be $780 billion. What changed?

[elleng]

6. Good question.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/washington/10stimulus-web.html?hp

[Ian David]

5. They should add everything that the Repukes in The House made them take out. n/t

[xchrom]

9. this package SUCKS -- but i'll take what i can get.

there's no 'change' in this admin.

[Psephos]

13. "I'll take what I can get" seems to be the guiding philosophy of the bill's authors

This bill is a disgusting sucker punch to the people of the future who will have to pay for it, with interest. Meanwhile, it's being sold uphill against the majority opinion of voters, and if it fails to deliver four million jobs and a turnaround, we'll be in big trouble in the 2010 elections. The risks, both economic and political, being taken here are breathtaking. All the pigs have lined up at the trough. BTW, $800 billion is just the beginning. Our pals at Treasury and the Fed have guaranteed bad bank assets by at least $2 trillion more. Where the fuck is that money going to come from? Remember, this bill and the others are 100% deficit spending. They are going on the national credit card. The cash is coming from overseas. China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and more are signing the national mortgage and whistling to themselves happily over what kind of leverage they're buying.

Here's a googledocs spreadsheet that shows line by disheartening line how much non-stimulatory spending is in this P.O.S.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pV-c6t5fOVmNorqMpHvnCMw

[rcsl1998]

10. Hey Politico! That 'Procedural Hurdle' has a name! It's a FILIBUSTER!

USE THE WORD!!!

[Liberty Belle]

14. Senate Clear Path for Vote on $838 Billion Stimulus

Source: NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Monday advanced the $838 billion economic stimulus bill, clearing a major procedural hurdle by a razor thin margin with the help of just three Republicans. A vote on final passage of the bill is expected on Tuesday.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
The Caucus: Caps on Executive Pay Cost Uncle Sam, Too (February 9, 2009)

The Senate vote, by 61 to 36, to close debate on the stimulus, symbolized the partisanship that still grips Congress despite President Obama’s call for new cooperation. It also highlighted the rising power of the centrist Republicans who cast the critical votes. Under Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to invoke cloture and usher a bill to a vote.

Those votes, by Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, along with the 56 Democrats and two Independents who regularly vote with them, followed a succession of floor speeches by Republicans criticizing the stimulus as a bloated, wasteful spending bill.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/washington/10stimulus-web.html?_r=1&hp

---

It might be nice to thank and give some credit to the three sane Republican Senators who actually voted with the Democrats to save America: Olympia Snow, Arlen Specter and Susan Collins.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Yes. they need to be shown the proper appreciation for maintaining their sanity in the midst

of all the craziness going on among the repukes.


I wish Al Franken would be allowed to take his seat already...and the Dems would only have to have 1 Rep to pass
the bills that we need.

I have no qualms whatsoever about telling those Conservative assholes to take their votes and shove them....

[Lionel Mandrake]

16. Senate Invokes Cloture On Collins-Nelson Amendment

Source: the Moderate Voice

February 9th, 2009
By PATRICK EDABURN

The amended $800 billion stimulus bill is on the way to passage after a 61-36 vote in favor of cloture.

We had all 57 Democrats voting Yes plus Sanders of Vermont (I), 3 GOP Senators voting Yes (Collins, Snowe and Specter), and 1 not voting (Gregg) plus one vacancy in Minnesota (party unknown) so that leaves 1 more non voting Republican, I’m not sure who they were.

Read more: http://themoderatevoice.com/26331/senate-invokes-cloture-on-collins-nelson-amendment/

---

It seems likely that a compromise will soon be reached on the stimulus bill.

[hlthe2b]

17. the other non-voting REPUG was Cornyn--after all his whining...

:eyes:

[Earth Bound Misfit]

18. Cornyn, found

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090210/pl_politico/29287_1

Glenn Thrush says the question from the Senate floor this evening was "where was Cornyn," as the Texas Republican was the only senator to miss the crucial cloture vote on the stimulus package.

The answer: He was at a New York gathering of prominent media conservatives and Wall Street Republican donors called the Monday Meeting, held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Though not a fundraiser, the meeting is a hub of conservative money and buzz, a good place for Cornyn to tap into resources in his role as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The meetings are off-the-record, but a source there emails me that Cornyn -- who was billed as speaking about the 2010 senate races -- took some pokes at Democratic leaders, saying that "Nancy Pelosi drives the train" and describing Chuck Schumer as a "human vacuum cleaner."

If there's a crowd open to the argument that FDR's New Deal was a big mistake, this is the one.

Cornyn spoke at the end of the meeting and was, I'm told, received warmly.:puke:

[elocs]

19. How is this Latest Breaking News after 11 p.m.? n/t

[Lionel Mandrake]

21. It was only 9 PM here on the west coast.

The news isn't all THAT stale. I don't see any other threads about it.

[Lionel Mandrake]

24. Correction: there is a previous thread on this topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8182468

According to a post in this thread, Lieberman voted Yes.

[elocs]

25. At DU, if you do not post something the minute it happens it will not be LBN.

In fact, you will often see 3 people post exactly the same story at exactly the same minute. You didn't see any threads about it because it was already old news and "old news" can mean it happened a half hour ago. That's just the way it is here and that is why I don't even bother to attempt to post something as Latest Breaking News because there are evidently people who live to post LBN and are ready to do it the moment it happens.

On edit, I see they merged your thread with one that was posted at 5:28 p.m., minutes after the story was posted.

[w4rma]

20. How did LIEberman vote? (nt)

[Lionel Mandrake]

22. Isn't he technically a Democrat?

I presume he is one of the 57 reported to have voted Yes.

On edit: Lieberman did vote Yes. See reply number 8.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. According to Wikipedia:

Lieberman remains a registered Democrat and continues to vote with the Democrats in the Senate most of the time.

There you have it.