AP: Tentative Deal On Stimulus Package Reached
by Todd Beeton, Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 01:00:57 PM EST
MSNBC is reporting that a tentative deal on the stimulus bill has been reached. The amount of the bill is around $780.
Update [2009-2-6 18:3:13 by Todd Beeton]:David Schuster: "A bipartisan group of negotiators in the Senate have tentatively reached a deal and Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, is now trying to discuss this deal with the Democratic caucus and possibly bring this to a vote tonight."
Update [2009-2-6 18:47:58 by Todd Beeton]:Here is CNN's story on the deal. This is my favorite part:
Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich concluded that his "philosophical" differences with the approach of Republican negotiators was too great, a Voinovich aide said. The senator said he could no longer support efforts at compromise or the final bill, the aide said.Voinovich's departure left four Republican senators involved in the negotiations, and Democratic leaders will need at least two or three GOP votes to pass the bill.
Someone take away his "centrist" credentials.
Senators will speak about the deal reached within 15 minutes.
Update [2009-2-6 19:5:52 by Todd Beeton]:Some welcome wisdom from Nancy Pelosi:
"Washington seems consumed in the process argument of bipartisanship, when the rest of the country says they need this bill," the California Democrat said, seeming to sweep aside the Obama administration initial desire to have broad GOP support for the plan."We must have a bill [quickly]," she said, in a clear message to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has spent the past two days wrangling with moderates who want to cut proposed education funding for the states by as much as $50 billion.
"These cuts are very damaging [the House bill] was put together very carefully. ... The funding goes directly to school districts, they are stimulative because they maintain jobs instead of cutting jobs."
And let me just say as an aside that I actually think Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is working in good faith with the Democrats and will likely end up being one of our greatest allies in the Senate. The perverse thing is that it she is likely to get an enormous amount of pressure from her colleagues not to compromise with the Dems because, as Dick Morris said on Fox News today, if Democrats can win over a reliable 3 or 4 Senators for most votes then that renders the rest of the Republican Senate caucus, and hence the entire party, virtually irrelevant in Washington. Amen.
Update [2009-2-6 19:26:0 by Todd Beeton]:John Kerry: 42% tax cuts, 58% spending. Christ.
Update [2009-2-6 20:1:9 by Todd Beeton]:Chris Matthews just called Joe Lieberman "the 4th of the big 4." The others: Susan Collins, Ben Nelson and Arlen Specter. Mike Viquera: "I wouldn't go that far. Let's stick to the big 2." Ha.
Update [2009-2-6 20:21:27 by Todd Beeton]:C-SPAN says the $780b compromise has been negotiated by Sens. Collins (R-ME), Nelson (D-NE), Snowe (R-ME), Specter (R-PA) and Lieberman (I-CT.) Noticing anything? Witness the rising power of the Northeast and the growing irrelevance of the south.
John McCain is on the teevee railing against his favorite bogeyman "wasteful spending." Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Second verse, same as the first.
[UPDATE}John McCain: drama queen: "if this legislation is passed it would be a very bad day for America."
Update [2009-2-6 20:32:29 by Todd Beeton]:Jon Kyl: "My staff has just reconfirmed the numbers that as compared to the House passed bill...this bill would spend, or create a deficit, of $827b, the House bill $820b, so $7b more in deficit spending than the House bill." Are Republicans SERIOUSLY concerned with deficit spending? Really?
Update [2009-2-6 20:32:29 by Todd Beeton]:Tom Coburn: "This bill represents generational theft." La la la you have no credibility la la la.
Update [2009-2-6 20:36:27 by Todd Beeton]:Claire McCaskill on Twitter: "We will have more votes tonight. But doesn't look like we will do final vote till Sunday."
Update [2009-2-6 21:18:21 by Todd Beeton]:On the MSNBC scroll: "Sen Reid: Vote expected on Monday."
Watching Rachel Maddow now, she's having a great conversation with Joan Walsh from Salon. Rush transcript:
Walsh: "Obama was elected. Democrats were elected to change. There was a mandate for change...There was a mandate to really examine the fundamental premises of our economy that have brought us to this state...I also think this idea that they're compromising on the size of it. I don't know any economists out there who are saying this needs to be smaller, I know economists saying this needs to be bigger. They have one chance to do it right so they're cutting? The only reason to cut is political, you can argue what it should do, that's one issue, but to cut is craziness and it's strictly political. It's not about economics and it's not about what's good for our country.Maddow: "It's making the policy worse because the politics demand it. Which probably means that the politics should change."
Tags: Senate, stimulus (all tags)
103 Comments