Posted on 02/04/2009 1:19:56 PM PST by bestintxas
Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide an immediate boost to the economy.
The legislation represents the first major test for President Obama and an expanded Democratic Congress, both of which have made economic recovery the cornerstone of their new political mandate. The stimulus package has now tripled from its post-election estimate of about $300 billion, and in recent days lawmakers in both parties have grown wary of the swelling cost.
Moderate Republicans are trying to trim the bill by as much as $200 billion, although Democrats working with those GOP senators have not agreed to a specific figure. .... Some Republicans in the group are seeking a much broader rewrite of the legislation, and they want Obama to lead the effort. "Get us all in a room. That's what you do with a major piece of legislation," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who supports an alternative drafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would cost $445 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
In watching the Senate Proceedding today, doesn’t look likely they will even let him speak, LOL! They are putting him off until tomorrow, yeah right!
He is so very maverick, really shaking things up by taking what the democrats give him, tweaking it slightly, and selling it as the new and improved stimulus.
Just let it die and start all over again. If we force them to do that over and over again, it may be 50 years before the people elect another Dimmocrat.
McCain is demonstrating why a rookie with no resume’ kicked his ass back in November....
RINOs again!
While they fiddle around trying to figure out how much money it will take to “save” the economy, they could have slashed corporate and personal taxes and opened lines of credit for businesses back in September, and we probably wouldn’t even need a “stimulus” bill right now.
I didn't catch that! McCain licked a Conservative's hand? ;-)
Yep - take everything out of the bill that doesn’t involve a tax cut and voila! Porkulus becomes Stimulus.
Right you are Badeye.
Hopefully McSTOOGE will shut his PIE-HOLE!
Thank you for that excellent laugh!
To get that done would have required a conservative congress and a conservative president, we had neither.
That's why they call me a dreamer! ;-)
Exactly, but I wonder what else McJuan is licking..gads I wish he would just shut up and go away..
McCain needs to stop trying so hard and let the democrat bill die.
Is there any real “tax cuts” in the bill?
and McCain is all to willing to play along
Does anyone want to apologize who voted for Graham instead of the Ron Paul Democrat who opposed him?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.