The "silly stuff" that was cut from the stimulus bill by the senate.

[madfloridian]

The cuts from the stimulus bill, that is, in the Senate. All the "silly stuff" that will actually help the people and the states.

From slinkerwink's diary at Daily Kos:

McCaskill's words:

What was taken out of the stimulus is NOT silly stuff, as Senator McCaskill seems to think below:

"Proud we cut over 100 billion out of recov bill. Many Ds don’t like it, but needed to be done. The silly stuff Rs keep talking about is OUT.

McCaskill's words from her own twitter feed.

Per slinkerwink's diary, here are the cuts that in the billions or items that are eliminated.

Billion dollar cuts

$40 billion State Fiscal Stabilization

$16 billion School Construction

$7.5 billion of State Incentive Grants

$5.8 billion Health Prevention Activity

$4.5 billion GSA

$3.5 billion Higher Ed Construction (Eliminated)

$3.5 billion Federal Bldgs Greening

$2.25 Neighborhood Stabilization (Eliminate)

$2 billion broadband

$2 billion HIT Grants

$1.25 billion project based rental

$1 billion Head Start/Early Start

$1.2 billion in Retrofiting Project 8 Housing

$1 billion Energy Loan Guarantees

Sounds to me like Republican Susan Collins has the power even though we control the White House and both houses of Congress.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is one of the three Republicans who says she will vote YES on the Senate version of the economic stimulus package, tells Morning Joe that she told POTUS that she could change her mind later, if Pelosi and company change the bill in conference. Her vote gives the administration the magic anti-filibuster 60 vote majority on the bill.

"I have made it very clear that if the bill comes back with a lot of the unnecessary expenditures crammed back in it with deep cuts in the tax relief provided to the American people than the Democrats will lose my vote," she said. " I’ve made that clear to the president and to his chief of staff as well. We have put together a carefully balanced package. It isn’t perfect, it isn’t my first choice...but it is far better than the bill that the House sent over and if that balance is upset in conference, I will vote no."

I agree with the diary that "Senate "centrists" will try to force the House to go along with its stimulus version, instead of the House stimulus version. We have to agitate and fight for the restoration of these cuts back to the stimulus bill. Once again, here's a list of what was cut out of the stimulus package in the goal of bipartisanship, prioritizing tax cuts over spending priorities that are designed to stimulate the economy."

[NYCGirl]

1. You are totally misrepresenting McCaskill's one sentence. The things you listed

were NOT the "stuff the Rs keep talking about."

[madfloridian]

3. Then correct me. And correct slinkerwink. And Kagro X

.

[NYCGirl]

4. She's referring to resodding the National Mall and condom distribution —

those are the things the wingnuts were bleating about all last week in the media.

[madfloridian]

5. Those two things are nowhere near the 100 billion

she referred to. Had to mean more stuff.

[NYCGirl]

9. Bull. Trying to parse a Twitter is just desperate. NT

[madfloridian]

11. The 100 billion were her words, not mine.

That's more than the two items you mentioned.

Collins has the power, and Specter. And Ben Nelson is in his glory days.

[NYCGirl]

13. And she said "All the 100 billion of silly stuff is out?" or did she say, "the silly

stuff is out"? You're parsing.

[madfloridian]

14. I'm quoting.

What she said.

She referred to 100 billion dollars worth of stuff.

[NYCGirl]

15. And you're assuming she meant "100 billion...of silly stuff" instead of

100 billion AND the silly stuff.

[stray cat]

2. McCaskil is about as good as it gets for populists - she rocks!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. The Stuff Wasn't Silly In Premise, But Doesn't Belong In The Bill. I'm Glad They Were Cut.

I do hope to see the things that were cut brought up and passed in a different bill down the road though. They just didn't belong in this bill.

[damntexdem]

8. Hmm, billions in spending on infrastructure and education aren't stimulus.

As Obama asked: "What do you think stimulus is?"

[PVnRT]

16. No, of course not. Only tax cuts are logically stimulus-oriented.

[damntexdem]

7. 57 + Franken (sometime) + LIEberman = Collins and Spector have a field day.

The 60-vote cloture threshold gives them real power. Hey, did you think that the Senate was set up to serve the American people?

[spanone]

10. i bet the House will re-install a few of those silly issues

[bobbolink]

12. The low-income HOUSING is NEVER a big issue for "progressives"

Every time it comes up on DU, with a request for a simple phone call, it's ignored.

Why would this time be any different?

We homeless people know we are IGNORED.

[madfloridian]

17. Good article by Bill Scher at CAP blog: Gang of fools.

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009020606/gang-fools

" Total Reductions: $80 billion

Eliminations:

Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons, COPS Hiring, Violence Against Women, NASA, NSF, Western Area Power Administration, CDC, Food Stamps

*****************************

Reductions:

Public Transit $3.4 billion, School Construction $60 billion

*****************************

Increases:

Defense operations and procurement, STAG Grants, Brownfields, Additional transportation funding

*****************************

Can this be any more pound foolish?"

Read the whole blog post.