Vote on stimulus package coming as early as Tuesday, cloture secured.
If the rumors of Teddy Kennedy's forced retrieval prove to be true, Senate can be voting for cloture tonight. This would in effect cease debate and shutdown the filibuster in the Senate, allowing the bill to safely pass and terrorize our economy for the next decade. I find Kennedy's arrival to be in poor taste and indicative that the bill does not have popularity or support among the senators, let alone the American public. Stooping to such extreme measures over a potential expenditure of 1 trillion dollars is the lowest of the low and pure politics.
Stay tuned, I will be making updates in this post.
5:50 - Cloture passes with 61 votes, final vote will occur tomorrow morning. It's all over folks, nothing more to see here, the Collins/Nelson modified bill (7B more than the House) will be the bill put forth upon America. It was fun while it lasted.
4:50 - Senator Coburn warns of a legacy that would be left by this bill and suggests that each taxpayer will assume a massive debt of 11,000 to pay for this stimulus package (not counting interest). He goes through the litany of spending projects that many have gone through in the past week, trying to drive the point home. I don't see anything being offered, so I guess a vote for cloture makes logical sense tonight.
4:20 - Senator Baucus is shooting down all assertions made by the GOP, asserting that this is actually not the biggest bill ever and that the spending not permanent. I would like to point out that Baucus always comes up with some kind of explanation as to why a particular GOP assertion is wrong.
3:50 - Senator Ensign warns that our treasuries will be a worthless pile of crap if this spending continues and our economy will completely collapse. He suggested that everyone sit down and start all over the again, a new bill - from scratch. Might as well.
3:45 - Senator Graham expressed desire to work together and pointed out that to his political detriment has a history of being bi-partisan. He added that he is dissapointed in our new president and dislikes the broken process. I agree. Good for you Mr. Graham.
3:00 pm - Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) seems like a smart guy, but wants to pass this bill despite having serious reservations. Still, he voted against TARP and believes this bill will be much more effective as there is more accountability. He is against tax cuts and cites some economists that believe tax cuts do not create jobs. Although I disagree with him, he is not mud slinging as much as Boxer and just wants to get out of this recession. He also ribbed the GOP a bit by saying that disagreeing is the easiest part of the debate, but he is forgetting that they have proposed many amendments most of which were struck down. So they are trying, but nobody seems to care about their opinions.
2:50 pm - Senator Inhofe blasted Democrats for striking down every amendment proposed by the GOP that was specifically targeted for job creation. Pointing out the obvious irony that Republicans are being accused of not participating and not compromising, yet virtually every amendment they proposed was struck down party lines. Inhofe then went on to say, that at the end there is some good news. He, to my amusement, drew analogies between today and 1992 and suggested that in two years we will see 1994 all over again. He belives the American people will not tolerate this kind of reckless spending and I hope he is right. My only concern and a counter-point to the good Senator, we were coming out of a recession and the economy was stable as opposed to today where we are smack in the middle of one. Still, bravo, powerful rhetoric.
2:30pm - Senator Kyl rebutted Boxer by pointing out that spending one week on a trillion dollar proposed expenditure is not a waste of time. He made excellent points by illustrating that much of the spending was moved out of the appropriations committee under the context of emergency. However as most of us have astutely observed, none of which is actually stimulative - things like Pell grants and special education moneys. Not that anyone is opposed to this kind of spending, but that there are times for these commitments and right now is not the time. He further stressed the issue of having virtually nothing to help small businesses which make up about 80% of the employers in this country. By spending less than 1% on small business, it becomes apparent that this bill is doing much less for job growth and much more for spending projects that Democrats traditionally support. Finally, every dollar spent by the federal government is a dollar taken away from private industry. This is not a zero sum game and therefore can have very dire consequences as this economy attempts to recover out of a recession.
2:00pm - Barbara Boxer is giving a long speech and pressuring the Republicans to do SOMETHING, because doing nothing is the only other alternative. Although the CBO has already demonstrated that doing nothing is better than passing this particular bill. I don't know much about Senator Boxer, but she is saying some nasty stuff. On one hand she thanks the two Republicans who are willing to compromise on the other hand she accuses the GOP of not wanting to invest in schools, infrastructure and the working poor. Accused the GOP of creating the 10 trillion in debt (although the biggest debt came under Democrat controlled House) and suggested that the GOP only likes to spend money on Iraq and tax cuts for the rich. What is stunning to me is the continued ignorance of the Bush tax cuts which affected virtually every tax bracket and lowered the tax burden of the working poor. Instead Senator Boxer, whose state is virtually bankrupt HAS to push for this bill in hopes that she will get some kickbacks and save her own ass.
Stay tuned, I will be making updates in this post.
5:50 - Cloture passes with 61 votes, final vote will occur tomorrow morning. It's all over folks, nothing more to see here, the Collins/Nelson modified bill (7B more than the House) will be the bill put forth upon America. It was fun while it lasted.
4:50 - Senator Coburn warns of a legacy that would be left by this bill and suggests that each taxpayer will assume a massive debt of 11,000 to pay for this stimulus package (not counting interest). He goes through the litany of spending projects that many have gone through in the past week, trying to drive the point home. I don't see anything being offered, so I guess a vote for cloture makes logical sense tonight.
4:20 - Senator Baucus is shooting down all assertions made by the GOP, asserting that this is actually not the biggest bill ever and that the spending not permanent. I would like to point out that Baucus always comes up with some kind of explanation as to why a particular GOP assertion is wrong.
3:50 - Senator Ensign warns that our treasuries will be a worthless pile of crap if this spending continues and our economy will completely collapse. He suggested that everyone sit down and start all over the again, a new bill - from scratch. Might as well.
3:45 - Senator Graham expressed desire to work together and pointed out that to his political detriment has a history of being bi-partisan. He added that he is dissapointed in our new president and dislikes the broken process. I agree. Good for you Mr. Graham.
3:00 pm - Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) seems like a smart guy, but wants to pass this bill despite having serious reservations. Still, he voted against TARP and believes this bill will be much more effective as there is more accountability. He is against tax cuts and cites some economists that believe tax cuts do not create jobs. Although I disagree with him, he is not mud slinging as much as Boxer and just wants to get out of this recession. He also ribbed the GOP a bit by saying that disagreeing is the easiest part of the debate, but he is forgetting that they have proposed many amendments most of which were struck down. So they are trying, but nobody seems to care about their opinions.
2:50 pm - Senator Inhofe blasted Democrats for striking down every amendment proposed by the GOP that was specifically targeted for job creation. Pointing out the obvious irony that Republicans are being accused of not participating and not compromising, yet virtually every amendment they proposed was struck down party lines. Inhofe then went on to say, that at the end there is some good news. He, to my amusement, drew analogies between today and 1992 and suggested that in two years we will see 1994 all over again. He belives the American people will not tolerate this kind of reckless spending and I hope he is right. My only concern and a counter-point to the good Senator, we were coming out of a recession and the economy was stable as opposed to today where we are smack in the middle of one. Still, bravo, powerful rhetoric.
2:30pm - Senator Kyl rebutted Boxer by pointing out that spending one week on a trillion dollar proposed expenditure is not a waste of time. He made excellent points by illustrating that much of the spending was moved out of the appropriations committee under the context of emergency. However as most of us have astutely observed, none of which is actually stimulative - things like Pell grants and special education moneys. Not that anyone is opposed to this kind of spending, but that there are times for these commitments and right now is not the time. He further stressed the issue of having virtually nothing to help small businesses which make up about 80% of the employers in this country. By spending less than 1% on small business, it becomes apparent that this bill is doing much less for job growth and much more for spending projects that Democrats traditionally support. Finally, every dollar spent by the federal government is a dollar taken away from private industry. This is not a zero sum game and therefore can have very dire consequences as this economy attempts to recover out of a recession.
2:00pm - Barbara Boxer is giving a long speech and pressuring the Republicans to do SOMETHING, because doing nothing is the only other alternative. Although the CBO has already demonstrated that doing nothing is better than passing this particular bill. I don't know much about Senator Boxer, but she is saying some nasty stuff. On one hand she thanks the two Republicans who are willing to compromise on the other hand she accuses the GOP of not wanting to invest in schools, infrastructure and the working poor. Accused the GOP of creating the 10 trillion in debt (although the biggest debt came under Democrat controlled House) and suggested that the GOP only likes to spend money on Iraq and tax cuts for the rich. What is stunning to me is the continued ignorance of the Bush tax cuts which affected virtually every tax bracket and lowered the tax burden of the working poor. Instead Senator Boxer, whose state is virtually bankrupt HAS to push for this bill in hopes that she will get some kickbacks and save her own ass.
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