I, um, don’t know how the Senate’s procedures work, exactly. Personal holds? Votes to cloture, with a flip side of a threat to filibuster?
Now that the stimulus package, with all its warts, has passed the House, will the Senate take up the same exact bill (that would make things simpler) and maybe amend it, or introduce a new bill? But the vote in the House worries me. All the Republicans in the House voted against the stimulus. That’s a bad precedent. Now, if even a single Republican in the Senate breaks ranks, he or she might as well change parties for all the crap the Republicans will drop on him or her.
But does the Stimulus have to endure a vote to cloture? Because as I remember if no Republicans agree to break ranks, then it won’t make it. The Democrats have enough votes to pass the thing, but not enough to insure debate is closed (or whatever the frack cloture means). If ever there was a time for Harry Reid to grow a backbone or grow a pair, this is it. Make Mitch McConnell stand for 12 hours or more. If the country is not going to get a stimulus package, make the frickin’ Republicans suffer a little. The bankers took our tax money and gave it to themselves as this year’s bonus. Some economist (Martin Feldstein?) on the news hour whined that the bankers have gotten huge bonuses for years and if a bank didn’t give its executives bags of money, the executives would get petulant and leave and take their obviously superior skills elsewhere (a. we have seen have talented our bankers are as the stock market dropped a full fucking third, unemployment is shooting up because of massive layoffs and the banks are hoarding money, refusing to loan it out to anyone because then it wouldn’t be in the banks to award as bonuses to bank executives, and b. the other economist on the News Hour said ‘good, let the executives leave, they can be replaced by long time middle managers who might have a long range view).
Anyway, now I am worried. When does the Senate take up this thing?
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Within the next 1 to 2 weeks. Obama wants to sign this bill no later than mid February.
Here is the link to the Senate Stimulus bill http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1
The dems will have to cut items in the house bill in order to swing enough reps to pass a senate bill. It seems as though it's down to fundamental political differences in the definition of the programs and projects within the bill.
What the reps call a slow-growth initiative that will pay out over a number of years, the dems call reinforcement to the programs which will quickly stimulate the economy.
The reps want a bill that provides a quick shot to jump start business and industry, while the dems prefer a bill which feeds the economy steadily over the next year to two years.
I only hope there is constructive dialoge.
I think you are hitting the nail on the head, n'at. I don't hold much hope for constructive dialogue. That seemed to disappear when cable news and internet blogs appeared.
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