Senate approves $787B Stimulus Plan
By JONATHAN KARL, Z. BYRON WOLF, HUMA KHAN and CHRISTINA CARON
Feb. 13, 2009
In a major victory for President Barack Obama, the Senate approved the $787 billion economic stimulus bill late Friday night by a vote of 60-38. The bill, which includes tax cuts, and billions in federal spending, now awaits President Obama's signature on Monday.
Three Republicans who supported the measure on earlier votes once again cast their votes for the stimulus package. And, as expected, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, provided the necessary 60th vote for passage after the Senate held the vote open for several hours while he flew back from his home state.
Voting in the Senate started at 5:30 p.m., but Brown was attending his mother's wake at the time and could not secure a commercial flight back to Washington. Eager to ensure the bill's passage, the White House stepped in and arranged for Brown's flight back.
Only 98 senators voted because there is no second senator from Minnesota yet seated, and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who has brain cancer but came to the Capitol earlier in the week to vote on procedural motions, did not vote.
An earlier Senate version of the bill passed the 61-37. In that vote, as with today's, the only Republicans to support the bill were Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
House Republicans Balk
Earlier today, the House passed the stimulus bill by a vote of 246-183, although a week of negotiations and lobbying by President Obama failed to convince a single Republican to support the bill.
Republicans who don't support the bill continued to have scathing words about it, but many consider the fight over the stimulus to be lost.
"This debate is coming to an end and it really never started," complained Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., referring to the short amount of time they had to review the bill, which was completed and posted online just before 11 p.m. Thursday.
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who withdrew his nomination to be Obama's secretary of commerce yesterday, also criticized the plan.
"What was initially advertised as a well-intended effort to boost economic growth has become sidetracked by misplaced spending and lack of attention to the true problems facing the nation, especially housing. Massive amounts of money will be spent years after this bill is signed into law, thereby undermining claims that it is stimulative," Gregg said in a written statement. "This bill, therefore, is not timely, targeted, and temporary, which is what a stimulus bill should be."
But Democrats continued to tout the plan.
Speaking to reporters after the House voted, an exultant House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hailed the passage of the stimulus as "transformational for our country." Surrounded by her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi thanked Obama for his efforts in the stimulus bill.
"He did something faster than any other president in history. ... I salute him for his leadership," Pelosi said.
President Obama has proven to the world that persistence overcomes resistance in his bold move to honor his commitment to the American people that he would promote and sign a stimulus package by President’s Day. With the bill having passed in both the House and Senate, there will be a signing ceremony in the White House on Monday, February 16th 2009.
Albeit the bill had no Republican support in the House and only three Republican votes in the Senate, it cannot be said that the President’s hand was not extended to the balking conservative party. This writer believes that the Republican intransigence on this early test of the Obama Presidency will come back to haunt them in the days and months to come, as they are shown to be obstructionists in the very same manner in which they have accused their Democratic counterparts in the past.
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The passage of this travesty makes it abundantly clear who is running this country now, and it is Nancy Pelosi. Barely 12% of this pork-laden monstrosity can even remotely be associated with investment in infrastructure, with much of the remainder consisting of political pig fat which was endowed upon Pelosi's caucus for her own aggrandizement. Ordinarily, "The Three Stooges" would be an appropriate cognomen to assign to the troika of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi; but it appears the only stooge in this stage act is Obama, who seemed more preoccupied with getting this bill -- or ANY bill, for that matter -- passed and signed by Presidents Day. This contrived haste resulted in the entirety of the bill being reviewed by precisely ZERO representatives and senators in both houses. The final bill wasn't posted to the White House website until well after the last vote was cast in the Senate -- a testimony to the lip service the Obama Administration has paid to "transparency."
I'm also thoroughly amused by the sudden resistence of Republicans to this largesse. Exactly when did they display this altruism and principled position when THEY were the party in power? It seems Republicans do their best work when they are in the position of being "the loyal opposition." Too bad for us peasants.
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