Firedoglake - How Grassley is f*cking up the stimulus bill he won't vote for

[emulatorloo]

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/02/08/the-grassley-isakson-coburn-collins-bad-nelson-bill/

The Grassley-Isakson-Coburn-Collins-Bad Nelson Bill
By: emptywheel Sunday February 8, 2009 5:19 am

So to recap, here's how this crappy bill came about.

Back in January, Chuck Grassley got the Obama Administration to agree to move the Alternative Minimum Tax patch into stimulus, for a cost of $69 billion.The AMT patch, because it basically goes to upper middle class taxpayers, will likely have minimal stimulutive value. And it would be passed later this year, in any case. But unlike other measures that weren't really stimulus and which should be passed in normal budgeting process, this remains in the bill. Chuck Grassley is not going to vote for this stimulus bill.

During the amendment process, former realtor Johnny Isakson--along with amendment co-sponsor Sanctimonious Joe--offered up an amendment that does little else than put money in realtor's pockets, all for $30 billion more than Isakson and Sanctimonious Joe promised promised. Even worse, this amendment basically encourages the kind of speculative, price-inflating home sales that got us into this mess. And a bunch of cowardly Senators passed it on a voice vote. Johnny Isakson is not going to vote for this stimulus bill (though Sanctimonious Joe will).

Then, in comes Tom Coburn, one of the Senate's most reactionary members. He proposed an amendment that basically prohibits stimulus funds from being used to do anything pretty: parks, museums, highway beautification. That amendment passed with big Democratic support, and the amendment remains in the bill. Tom Coburn is not going to vote for this stimulus bill.

Finally, Susan Collins got together with the Bad Nelson to make changes that would ensure they would vote for the bill. Because Chuck Grassley--who is not going to vote for the bill--added $69 billion for a non-stimulative tax fix that would pass later this year anyway (I don't know if Collins and Nelson have made cuts to compensate for Isakson's House Flipping Subsidy), Collins and Bad Nelson had an excuse to start cutting really stimulative funds from the bill: school building, Head Start, and funds for states to retain essential services.

And that's how we got to a bill that will create 728,143 fewer jobs than the House bill.

The Grassley-Isakson-Coburn-Collins-Bad Nelson Bill. A bill so bad that most of its authors won't even vote for it.