Posted on 02/06/2009 10:23:52 AM PST by Blue Turtle
Just got off the phone with an influential Republican senator. I asked how things stood with the stimulus, and he answered instantly, "They've cut a deal with three of our guys. They're delaying us from offering amendments. I suspect that as soon as they've got it written, they will offer it as an amendment, vote on it, and that will be it." He didn't have details on what the deal might be, but most Republicans seem to suspect it will involve relatively small cuts — and very little change in the price tag of the bill from the House version — that will be touted as a major bipartisan compromise. My senator suspects — hopes? — that no more than four Republicans will vote for the bill.
(Excerpt) Read more at corner.nationalreview.com ...
It’s still busy when I try. Has been for hours.
The media will play this off as “bi-partisan”. We need for Michael Steele to kick these RINOs out of the party for the sake of saving the party.
I forgot to say, I am shocked, that even a “sane” liberal admitted as much!
Specter, Collins and Snowe, IMHO
McCain may have learned his less about being for the bailout/stimulus last election day.
You’ve got a good idea!! Of course, Obama’s temper tantrum last night was because the American people elected HIM and should not challenge any of his ideas!!
Absolute poppycock. This is supposed to be a stimulus package - it is not. The Dems won so yes they have the votes to pass all kinds of things but those "all kinds of things" can be placed in separate bills. There is no excuse to vote for a mega bill that combines literally ten other bills that would generally be allocated for in the general budget.
Just saw that too on Redstate. Said it may be more difficult now to get to 60. Sure would be nice for that to happen on Reagan’s birthday (today).
The media can play their standard "1 to 5 Pubbie = Bipartisan" game but the general unpopularity of this "stimulus" can't be hidden. The media can hide the final vote until the last paragraph but they can't avoid printing the final tally.
And remember folks, the House and Senate versions have to be reconciled and then both chambers have to vote one more time so this isn't over yet.
bump to keep trying to get through.
No it isn’t McCain I’ve been watching CSPAN 2 all dat and McCain hs been speaking out against this bill and has made remarks about how it isn’t bipartisan to only have 3 people in the meeting.
Blind squirrel got a nut.
I shouldn’t trust McCain on this, but I do and I feel confident he’ll vote no.
If one of them is Specter, I will hold George W. Bush personally responsible, and it will be a very large black mark on his legacy.
It IS on the Internet.
Yes, I know. But will it be there with the changes long enough BEFORE THE VOTE to allow everyone who cares to really look at it and send senators feedback? Lots of people are still at work and don’t get off til evening. The bill may be passed by then.
I came of age when they were marching in the streets. I wasn’t a marcher or a protestor. I had a healthy fear of my father, LOL! But I loved CS&N. I don’t want this country to go down that road again....People who did not live then truly do not understand how this country was torn apart.
When marching in the streets, marching on college campuses, bombing the pentagon etc did not work they decided to work within the system. We are seeing the fruits of their labors.
Each day brings another activisism orgasm for people like Ayers & Dorhn.
Who?
Leni
Here is the latest update from Hot Air — Voinivich pulled out this morning and Susan Collins is wavering. Calls need to go into Collins and push her farther away from the deal which would leave Snowe and Specter. If Collins, goes look for Snowe to immediately follow:
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has pulled out of negotiations on a bipartisan compromise on the Senate’s economic stimulus bill.
Three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) — continue to negotiate with Democrats, but Voinovich’s departure could make it more difficult for Democrats to reach the 60 votes they need to pass the bill.
Voinovich left a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) office around 2:30 p.m., saying he did not believe there was a deal he could agree to on an amendment that would cut as much as $100 billion from the more than $920 billion measure.
“I’ve really tried to work on this, but the three things that it should be timely, that it should be temporary and it should be targeted, that was something that I looked at,” Voinovich said. “It just doesn’t meet my criteria, and I feel very sorry because I think the Majority Leader has his responsibility, and he’s got his Members that he has to take care of.”
Update (AP): Suddenly Collins sounds iffy, too:
In the morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said he expected negotiations on a compromise to produce something that could be voted on by the end of the day.
“This is a critical day for our country and this Congress,” he said.
But by mid-afternoon, one of the leaders of the bipartisan group, Republican Susan Collins of Maine, emerged from a meeting with Reid and said she was just beginning to review an offer from the Democratic leader.
Asked how she felt, Collins said, “not as good as I felt earlier.”
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