Republicans have no reason to pass a stimulus bill good or otherwise. Right now if any bill goes through its going to be seen as Obama's bill because he just got elected with bigger majorities in the House and Senate. So if a bill passes and it is seen as working, credit goes to Obama/Democrats even if Republicans support it.
So what have they done? In the House, they bitched and whinged and watered the bill down from what it originally was. Then every single Republican voted against it. Every single one. Now what are they doing in the Senate? Watering the bill down again, slashing money for favorite targets (biggest slashes in the Senate are to education) and trying to convert large parts of the bill to tax cuts instead of spending. Why would that matter? Well, that CBO report you linked to also showed that tax cuts are the least effective means for stimulus to the economy, providing the smallest return on investment of any strategy. The Republican approach in Congress so far has been shrewd, I'll admit. They have diverted focus from the big issues, like the dire state of the economy, and focused instead on petty turf battles and done their best to water down any bill to help decrease the liklihood of it actually succeeding. And they'll still vote against it even after negotiations. So what do they get out of it? America limping along, Obama hoping like hell that its enough and he gets a lucky break and a good chance that he'll have to come back in a year or less for round 2 because round 1 wasn't anywhere near enough to jump start the engine. And when that happens they'll be able to decry his lack of leadership and fiscal responsibility, etc etc. They get to play to their base with votes against "government" and they hope to play the change card next round of elections. If it does succeed, then voters will be less economy focused and they'll be able to say that they kept the price of the bill down and helped relieve future generations of debt. Their is just no incentive for bipartisanship and that sucks. But it is what it is. I wish Obama had gone big on this one. It feels like he is afraid to let it ride on this priority and fight for the big position. He's a pretty shrewd guy though and he's proven to be an adept politician by and large. So I'm waiting to see what he pulls out. But the figures in this stimulus bill? The bill (either Senate or House) amounts to less than 2% of GDP and that's spread over 2 years. Ask yourself the question: does a 2% increase in your income spread over 2 years drastically change how you feel about your economic situation? Obama is starting to show some fight on this and Pelosi is showing some backbone as well. I generally am not very complimentary toward Pelosi, so I'm starting to have a little flutter of hope. Reid...meh. Republicans never had any intention of supporting a stimulus bill from Obama no matter what. Their version of negotiation starts with "everything will be done our way or we'll walk out" and ends right there too. And to be fair, there is no great incentive for them to negotiate. I guess that Obama felt he had to try but now its time to take the lead and tell the obstructionists to get on board or get out of the way. Judah On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 10:58 PM, Robert Munn <cfmuns...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I agree that the government is the only player big enough to help, and that > there needs to be a stimulus bill, so let's see a stimulus bill, not a > pork-and-beans bonanza. It's embarrassing what Obama has let Pelosi do to > him on this bill. If it passes in its current form, he should veto it just > to demonstrate who is in charge, then make them go back and clean it up with > Republican support. That would be real leadership. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:287664 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
