Posted on 02/10/2009 3:27:56 AM PST by Zakeet
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said that the Senate version of the $828-billion-plus stimulus bill must emerge from a House-Senate conference committee "virtually intact" to win his support for final passage.
The bill secured one more than the 60 votes necessary to schedule an end to Senate debate on the measure and schedule a final vote on it, which is set to take place today.
Only two other Republican Senators -- Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins both of Maine--joined Specter in siding with all 58 Senate Democrats on Monday in voting to end debate on the stimulus package and bring it to the floor for approval. From there, it will go to a conference committe to reconcile it with the House version of the bill. The bill that is approved by the House-Senate conference committee will then return to both chambers for a fina vote.
My support for the Conference Report on the stimulus package will require that the Senate compromise bill come back virtually intact including, but not limited to, overall spending, the current ratio of tax cuts to spending, and the $110 billion in cuts, Specter told CNSNews.com in a statement.
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed displeasure with some cuts in the package made by Senate Democrats to attract liberal Republicans, whose votes are needed to get the bill through the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
RINP getting nervous and looking for an excuse to change his vote, perhaps?
Keep calling! They’re feeling the pressure! Porkulus must be defeated!!
But to pass in the Senate, once it’s cleared cloture, does it still need 60 votes?
I called Specter’s office when he voted against convicting clinton on impeachment. I told them I’d never, ever vote for Specter, and I haven’t.
Does not matter now.
I believe it only takes 50 votes to pass now.
“Bush’s fault”
Oh don’t worry you RINO, it will come out of conference intact and then some.
“If they remove my payoff from the bill I wont vote for it!”
That’s what I thought too. So who cares what happens with his vote from here on out. I’m pretty sure that once there’s reconciliation of the bills only 50 votes are needed (I may be wrong.) Of course, if that happens they (the Dems) still have the problem of not having Republican support and have to own the consequences (which is why they want bipartisan...even a smidgen of bipartisan support.)
I listened to that arrogant, condescending old puke on Laura Ingraham yesterday. I lost a lot of respect for her when he called her “young lady” in an angry, lecturing manner and she didn’t do anything about it. She was talking tough before he came on but once he was on, she rolled over like a puppy dog. I was VERY disappointed in her.
re: 50 vs 60 votes
I think it has to do with how it’s handled when it comes back from conference. If they allow debate then a senator can grab the floor and not let go, in which case they would need 60 votes to invoke cloture.
A lot of the problems we face with Congress today has to with the rules of the two houses. When the Democrats were in charge all those years they made a ton of rules that serve no purpose other than to thwart Republicans and the Right. Newt and them tried to change some of those, but as soon as control changed back to Democrats the new rules were dumped and it was back to business as usual.
I wonder if we could get Dick Cheney to take Specter duck hunting.
Quite frankly, I want it to pass just to wrap it around the libs’ (and the three rinos’) necks.
can this guy really be this stupid? He already voted for cloture. the demholes don’t need his support anymore. All they need to do is keep fewer than 8 of their own from voting against whatever bill comes out. what a moron.
I think there will be another cloture vote after the conference, then a vote on the bill, if cloture is defeated.
So, if two of the three RINOs vote no on cloture, cloture would fail with only 59 votes, then Reid will also vote no so he can bring it up again at another time. Then, Reid and Obama will work the three over again, only harder, before Reid brings it up again.
Specter and Collins have both said this. They are essentially telling the House Dems not to force any of their issues. Could be interesting.
In other words, he insists on getting every penny of the pork he bargained for.
RINP getting nervous and looking for an excuse to change his vote, perhaps?
It does appears he is beginning to squirm.
Kick him out of office anyway.
Of course he knows that. He's hoping WE don't know.
.
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