Posted on 02/10/2009 3:09:25 AM PST by Born Conservative
Acknowledging potential political risk, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said he plans to vote today in favor of a compromise Senate version of the economic stimulus bill because the nation’s “very severe economic recession” demands action.
“If we don’t act, we may find ourselves in a depression like 1929,” Mr. Specter said after visiting the Schott Glass Technologies plant in Duryea. “That has to be avoided.”
Mr. Specter, a Republican and part of a bipartisan group of senators who co-wrote the proposal, said the $838 billion compromise version is far less expensive than what Senate Democratic leaders originally envisioned.
“It cuts the Democratic proposal by $110 billion, which is a lot of money,” he said, noting criticism of the Senate proposal by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “So that’s a sign we must be on the right track.”
The House passed an $819 billion version. A conference committee of senators and House members will work out the difference once the Senate approves its version, which is expected today.
Mr. Specter was one of three Republican senators who voted in favor of ending debate — known as cloture — on the bill Monday. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine, were the others.
“I’m asked if this will solve the problem and candidly, nobody knows for sure,” Mr. Specter told workers at Schott. “But if we don’t do something, it will get worse ... If we fail to act, I think it would be a devastating signal for the world.”
His support is riling conservative Republicans, who think the spending package is geared too heavily toward spending and too little toward tax cuts. Pennsylvania conservatives are hoping to woo a strong conservative challenger to Mr. Specter in the Republican Senate primary next year as he seeks a sixth term.
“Well, of course I am,” Mr. Specter said when asked if he’s worried about the conservative backlash. “But (President) John Kennedy had it right. He said, ‘Sometimes the party asks too much.’ And this is something I think is necessary for the country. It goes beyond politics. It goes beyond the Democratic or Republican position. It’s the right thing for America.”
Mr. Specter said he would have supported the package even if Democrats had not added $6.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health to the final version of the bill.
Mr. Specter had sought the money for years, and had mentioned he wanted it in the bill when he met with President Barack Obama last week.
“That’s only one small part ... That’s not determinative in my mind,” he said.
The stimulus vote could create “a political problem,” he said, but “I thought the public interest was so important that I have to take whatever problems it brings me.”
Mr. Specter said he hasn’t made up his mind about whether to vote for another bill that conservative Republicans are closely monitoring.
That bill would allow the formation of unions if a majority of a workers sign union cards, a concept known as card check.
The nation’s major umbrella labor unions, backed mostly by Democrats, are lobbying hard for card check because they believe it will make it easier to form new unions. Business groups, represented by conservative Republicans, say it will take away the right of employees to vote on forming a union in a secret ballot.
It is unclear when the bill will come up for a vote, but conservatives are watching it carefully as they decide whether to challenge Mr. Specter next year.
Last year, Mr. Specter voted in favor of ending debate on the bill so a vote on the actual bill could be taken. That led to speculation he favors card check, but the senator said he hasn’t made up his mind.
“I’ve been meeting with people about that practically on a daily basis and I made it plain that when I voted for cloture, it was not in favor of the bill. It was because I think there’s a need for labor law reform,” he said. “It’s a very heavily lobbied issue and I’m giving everybody a chance to be heard.”
He thinks we need to reform labor laws! He considers voting for the union card bill, killing the secret ballot! He votes for the porkulous bill!
He doesn't even qualify for the term RINO!
As long as the 6.5b for his pet project (NIH) is in there, he’ll vote for it.
LLS
So what happens after we pass this boondoggle and we still end up like 1929 ,only now we owe an additional trillion dollars?
James Bond: SPECTRE?
Dr. No: SPECTRE. Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion. The four great cornerstones of power headed by the greatest brains in the world.
James Bond: Correction. Criminal brains!
Dr. No: The successful criminal brain is always superior. It has to be!
ping
ping
Hannity tore him up yesterday aftertoon, made Spector sound ridiculous.
I think all Senators should be required, at their own expense, to submit to yearly MRI’s to rule out degenerative brain disease or tumors etc. Because some of the folks surely aren’t thinking clearly to vote how they do.
P&L is the base line of any business; when the Loss side of that equation exceeds the Profit side, and you don't have any savings or other readily available funding to cover the difference your business dies. I was in the hardware side of the computer industry for 30+ years, and have seen many companies start up and fail. The overall health of the industry was good, and grew well. Over-reaching the technology is a given, and most times succeeds, but it takes skill and luck to maintain the growth.
Yet we are all cognizant of the requirements necessary to establish a P&L, we all have our own income and expenses that we must balance out. This mis-begotten Bill will put the US in hock to every 'venture capitalist' in the world, and the payments are due immediately. The Dollar will fall, the Tax Income will fall, the Expenses will rise, and the State Mandates will increase.
Goodbye America, it's been one hell of a ride!
Well if they pass this bill a few of them will be on the low end of the totem pole for health care.
As for Smerconish, who rose to prominence on the backs of conservative, don't forget his junket to Cuba at taxpayers' expense, with Specter. Upon his return, Smerconish bragged to his then, largely conservative audience, about having dinner and an after dinner cigar with Castro. NO Conservative would make either of those mistakes. We'd spit on Castro and return to brag about that.
Michael also supported Michael Schiavo and is pro-abortion.
In every sound bite commercial promoting his radio program, "Smerc" talks about himself. On today's commercial sound bite, Michael informed his audience he is going to make a daily list of all the foods he eats (whoopee!). Such exciting, stimulating and thought provoking "talk." Be sure to tune in. /sarc
It's all about Michael Smerconish. It's nauseating just hearing his smug, so enormously pleased with himself self, for 15 seconds in the commercial. He probably thinks he regurgitates and eliminates his own waste better than everyone else. With bated breath, I longlingly anticipate his discussion of that. : )
Either that or there will be another revolution in the style of 1776.
All three, Collins, Snowe and Specter, should be run out of the party and the United States by people with torches and pitch forks, to some secluded island in the middle of the ocean, where NO ONE has to lay eyes on them again.
‘It was a really good inteview. Hannity did extremely well. Specter never sounded so stupid. ‘
Yep. Hannity pounded him into dust, he (Spector) almost wimpered at the end of it.
Apparently Laura Ingraham took him apart as well, and it even got more heated, but I didn’t hear it myself.
No he doesn't. As President Bush told us, when he campaigned for Spector over Toomey, "He's with us when it counts." /sarc
I didn’t hear that one either. We no longer get Ingraham on our local stations. It wouldn’t surprise me. Laura is a fiesty one. : )
Ingrahm ill advisedly took a gig on Fox News to fill the troublesome 5 - 6 PM slot weekdays. It imploded in less than two weeks. To do it, she cancelled her radio program.
Now she’s trying to get back to where she was. From what I can tell, stations just put Glenn Beck into her time slots, and they did here in Cincy region on 55krc.
I’d rather listen to Ingraham than Beck, she doesn’t going on ‘whining jags’ for thirty minutes at a time.
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