Posted on 12/13/2009 6:31:06 AM PST by BenLurkin
Senate Democrats overcame a Republican filibuster to clear the way for a vote Sunday on a huge end-of-year $1.1 trillion spending bill that gives budget increases far exceeding inflation to much of the government.
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 60-34 on Saturday to end the GOP filibuster that threatened to hold up the legislation. The final vote would send the measure to President Barack Obama.
The 1,000-plus-page bill brings together six of the 12 annual spending bills that Congress had been unable to pass separately because of partisan roadblocks even though the current budget year began Oct. 1.
The measure pays for Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and boosts spending for the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others.
Democrats held Saturday's vote open for an hour to accommodate Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an Orthodox Jew who walked more than three miles to the Capitol to vote on the Sabbath after attending services at his synagogue. Lieberman, wearing a black wool overcoat and bright orange scarf, finally provided the crucial 60th vote.
The bill includes $447 billion in operating budgets with about $650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid as well as an estimated $3.9 billion for more than 5,000 back-home projects sought by individual lawmakers in both parties.
The bill increases spending by an average of about 10 percent to programs under immediate control of Congress, blending increases for veterans' programs, NASA and the FBI with a pay raise for federal workers and help for car dealers.
Republicans who fought the bill said it provides too much money at a time when the government is running astronomical deficits.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
When is America going to wake up? Our “most ethical Congress evah!” only votes on bills on the weekends and in the middle of the night now!
Hopefully they’ll reconsider committing suicide after they see zero’s new -19 number just out.
Once again, Lieberman is the 60th man. I hope to never hear again on FR that "Lieberman is a good guy" or "Lieberman won't vote for that!". Lieberman is a snake.
The biggest spending issue...and the hardest to fix IMHO.
I know this: Dimocrat Texas Senator Chet Edwards better be on the “right” side of this voting-wise. His office is a few blocks away, and I’m just in the mood to stop in and share a few words.
this is the democrats’ way of remembering the Sabbath Day and keeping it holy
Crooks and thieves, the whole lot of them.
I know this: Dimocrat Texas Senator Chet Edwards better be on the “right” side of this voting-wise. His office is a few blocks away, and I’m just in the mood to stop in and share a few words.
You best get to ‘sharing a few words’ as this was passed by the House already and Edwards was a Yes vote.
In 80 days you can vote for a repub in the Mar. 2 primary in hopes of knocking him out come the Nov. general election.
This is not politics. It is fraud and deception. I am sitting here and just don't know what to do any more. We have worked so very hard to stop this s**t and now they are throwing it in a flaming paperbag on our doorsteps for Christmas.
6 of the 12 bills and how many other amendments in between?
We're not going to make it to November 2010.
What we know: these massive pieces of legislation are not about health reform, climate change, spending bills, financial markets. We need to tease out of all these pages the structural foundation they are putting in place to nullify our Constitution. We suspect it is happening, but we need to some to stop talking in broad strokes and start working to erode the their foundation.
An example is: “This repeal of the uniform federal standards option is a radical change that will make it far more difficult and costly for national banks to provide financial services to consumers in different states having different rules – and these costs will ultimately be borne by the consumer,” the Comptroller said. “The change will also undermine the national banking charter and the dual banking system that have served us very well for nearly 150 years, in which national banks operate under uniform federal rules, and states are free to experiment with different rules for the banks they charter.” from the OCC News, http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/release/2009-90.htm
What does this fundamental change mean besides increased consumer costs? The bankers caught onto what the strings were with the bailouts, so they came back at them with this kind of fundamental change?
What is in those 6 spending bills that must be passed on a Sunday?
Sorry— I said “senator.” We’ve got Kay Bailey H. and Mr. Tamper-with-the-BCS Brady. Anyway, I’ll be voting against Chet in 80 days. He’s been busy, having gotten earmarks for some local projects. Chet is running scared, and everyone knows why.
Is there a strong GOP candidate in the district that may can unseat Edwards?
May they burn in hell!
How many hundreds of billions in pork was stuck in this bill to get certain politicians to vote for the Public Option healthcare bill?
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