been there, done that
Posted on 02/23/2010 3:37:22 AM PST by RoadTest
WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A modest job-creation bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Monday as the chamber's newest Republican bucked his party and sided with Democrats on a $15 billion package of tax cuts and highway spending. Republican Scott Brown joined four other Republicans, 55 Democrats and two independents to overcome a procedural hurdle that sets up a final vote later this week. Brown was widely hailed as a conservative hero after his surprise victory in Massachusetts last month gave Republicans enough seats to block most Democratic legislation. His election prompted President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats to call for increased bipartisanship, and an earlier version of the bill was written with Republican input. But key Republicans withdrew their support after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scaled it back. Brown said the bill was not perfect but would help put people back to work. "I hope my vote today is a strong step toward restoring bipartisanship in Washington," he said in a statement. The bill includes a tax credit for businesses that hire unemployed workers, subsidies for state and local construction bonds and $19.5 billion to shore up a highway-construction fund. Much of the cost is offset by a crackdown on offshore tax shelters.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
this guy takes a first step and falls down.
You wish...
“this guy takes a first step and falls down.”
Well put.
He was also surprised when Biden made rude comments to the press about him after they first met. (’Gee, he seemed so pleasant. I don’t understand.’) Well, he’d better wise up and fast.
How Long Till FR Turns On Brown?
Jan. 20. 2010 | tlb
And at some point you can depend the Obama administration will find issues his state would wish and demand he support. That’s a lot of failed litmus tests for both the purists and the paulists.
Will people accept the reality that a centrist is better then a Kennedy Machine puppet? Or can we look forward yet again to Truth Files, barrages of RINO and traitor accusations, and snide and petty posts about his nude modeling photos.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2432861/posts
And now we know. Not very long. Predictably.
Good grief. Is this because of his going to McCain first thing???
Somebody please grab Senator Brown and give him a good shake.
Covert left wing idiot who must have been in hiding until he could get his left wing anti-American BS on the table.
Yes, Massachusetts people are that stupid. They are easily fooled.
By the standards of the present time it's a piddly little bill ~ ($15 billion) ~ that will do virtually nothing.
The federal government's computers handle that sort of thing in 15 femtoseconds so it doesn't even increase federal employment.
Of interest the article says it has some piddly little tax cuts. From the Conservative perspective a tax cut however so small is better than no tax cut, or a fake tax cut.
No doubt those complaining the loudest were those who believed that Massachusetts had changed somehow. If you'd wanted someone elected who would vote against the most beneficial of legislation simply because it had a tax cut in it (at least 3/4 of the Democrat members of the Senate would do that) you could have gotten Martha Coakley.
I don’t think you’re a ‘liberal’ for supporting a tax credit to companies that hire people. It’s just not going to work very well.
I don't think most folks here are turning on Brown quite yet You have to admit, though, for one of his first votes this one is about as tone deaf as it gets, especially since it was a vote to table discussion on the Senate "jobs" bill boondoggle. It is certainly enough to raise suspicions from Conservatives. Time will tell if he truly leans conservative, or if he's just going to be Kennedy lite and sKerry's lapdog, paying no more than lip service to Conservative principles. I've always had my doubts about Brown for two reasons. One, he's a politician, and two, he hails from Massachusetts.....
Ok Rush, you got some 'splainin' to do.
>>>Time will tell if he truly leans conservative
You could have just asked me. I noted it in the thread I referenced he’s not a conservative. Nor did he pretend to be one.
He’s a centrist, mildly leaning to the left. In his state that may make him a neanderthal. In the broad national view of things, that makes him average.
And he’s a damn sight better then the alternative would have been. People demanding he be a 100% Conservative Union senator are just asking he be thrown out of office in 2012. The state won’t permit it. Take what help he can give, and he has given plenty already, and get off the guy’s back.
Absolutist purism is self-defeating, besides being a general waste of time. Politics isn’t purist.
I don’t think the Republicans or the press ought to go along with Dems calling a larger spending bill only a “$15 billion” spending bill because it is offset by new tax collection. Spend a trillion and raise taxes a trillion in the same bill and by that logic it is a $0 bill.
Brown was suspect from the beginning , but preferable to what was running against him.
Still is. He is holding up what he was elected to hold up. Obamas Death Bill.
I never once said he was. Brown did stand up and rail against all the unbridled spending that has been going on in DC throughout his campaign, did he not? So, what's one of the first votes he casts? A vote to spend more money we don't have in some veiled attempt to create jobs. Gubmint doesn't create jobs, the private sector does. If gubmint spending created jobs we'd be a full employment now. The best thing that could happen right now is for the gubmint to get out of the way. That's another principle that Brown campaigned on, but seems to have forgotten. There is no way to know whether or not he would be "better than the alternative" because the alternative lost. People are, however, expecting Brown to live up to what he campaigned on and this vote doesn't appear that is going to be the case. Doesn't surprise me in the least because of the two reasons I gave. That's all I'm saying.
He never was conservative. He was just more conservative than the democrat and definitely more conservative than any Kennedy (and Schwarzenegger).
He’ll probably spend his time straddling the fence and falling from one side to the other proving himself to be like most Americans - squishy middle of the road.
And so Brown will probably be just what the people of Massachussets wanted. Not too hot, not too cold - just right (for them).
Typical of much that passes for legislation in today's Congress, almost every bill gives every member the chance to both vote for and against anything. People usually ignore that as long as the swag for their district comes home on time!
No. I think that by allowing this to pass, it really helps the Repubs be able to say that they are not just the party of no, That if the legistlation is worthy (like job creation) they will pass it. I think that this was done intentionally for leverage in the upcoming healthcare summit. At least now they can point to this recent bill and be able to say that they don’t say no to everything, just this healthcare bill. That is my opinion ( I hope I am right)
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