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They need to make up their mind. Either the dems are serious about bipartisanship and passing legislation with broad support or they are merely there to obstruct and say no to anything republicans may accept.
Members of the Senate Finance Committee unveiled a long-awaited bipartisan jobs bill Thursday morning — only to have it scrapped within hours by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
They need to make up their mind. Either the dems are serious about bipartisanship and passing legislation with broad support or they are merely there to obstruct and say no to anything republicans may accept.
Well, I think this was an alternative bill from the one that was being worked on, which I believe also had bipartisan provisions. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if nothing gets done under Reid/Pelosi. Worst Congress in a long, long time.
Nono's right. There were a couple of different bills floating out there.
If you're keeping score, the asshole Repugs have up the score in the bloody-minded contrariness game.
Rachel Maddow Exposes GOP Welfare Queens Who Attacked Obama's Stimulus, Yet Enjoyed Billions in Benefits
By , AlterNet
Posted on February 11, 2010, Printed on February 11, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145629/
Editor's note: The following is a transcript from the Rachel Maddow Show.
At the top of the show today, we talked about the myth of bipartisanship, the futility of Democrats, including the president, wasting time trying to persuade Republicans to go along with them on policies that are good for the country.
It totally makes sense in the abstract if people can agree on what needs to be done to solve the country‘s problems than those policies, even if they‘re big policies, should get votes from everyone who‘s in agreement.
In the abstract that‘s how it works. In Washington, that is not at all how it works. Republicans proposed a deficit commission. President Obama endorsed the idea so then Republicans decided they‘re against it.
Republicans proposed pay-as-you-go rules for budgeting. President Obama endorsed the idea. Then Republicans decided they were against it too.
Republicans who voted for the bank bailout are now criticizing President Obama for that same bank bailout.
Republicans supported President Bush‘s policy of trying terrorism suspects in U.S. courts. Now that President Obama is implementing that same policy, they decided they‘re against that now, too.
Republicans supported a cap-and-trade policy against global warming. Now that President Obama is trying to pass that same policy, Republicans have decided - say it with me now - they‘re against that, too.
See the pattern here? What Republicans are doing on policy is no longer interesting. It is so thoroughly unrelentingly, consistently predictable that anyone who thinks it‘s an open question as to what Republicans are going to do about the next legislation that‘s proposed just is not paying attention.
Let me be emphatic here. Let me be emphatic about one particular example, the stimulus. The stimulus passed despite every single Republican in the House voting no on it - everyone.
Since then, the consensus among economists is that stimulus has worked, even though it‘s maybe been too small. The consensus among Republicans is that it‘s been a horrible giant thing that hasn‘t done anything good at all.
MADDOW: If there‘s one thing that Republicans agree on now, it is that the stimulus is a bad, bad policy. It‘s a bad idea that does bad things. It‘s a bad president‘s bad way of making a bad economy more bad because he‘s bad. Stimulus bad.
Also? Stimulus good. What you‘re looking at here are pictures of the same Republicans who have trashed the stimulus as a bad, bad thing in their home districts taking credit for all the good things the stimulus has done.
That‘s Bobby Jindal there, governor of Louisiana who has railed against the stimulus, then gone around the state handing out big fake checks with his own name on them as if the money came from him instead of from the stimulus that he‘s been railing against.
Then, there‘s Congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia. That‘s him getting all Publisher‘s Clearinghouse with a giant check for funds that he voted against and criticized as worst than worthless. He called the money and that check he‘s holding a boondoggle and a dismal failure.
And it‘s not just a couple of these guys who have been caught like this either. Republican John Mica of Florida trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district as “helping improve one of our key economic generators.”
Republican Frank Wolf of Virginia trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying, “We could use that money desperately. There are a lot of things up here that that money could be used for.”
Republican Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home state by attending the groundbreaking of a sewage treatment plant that it funded and praising the jobs that it would create in his district.
Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas trashed the stimulus, voted no, and praised its effect in her home state by saying this funding will spur growth in Texas communities.
Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district as a great thing for this county. We‘re not accustomed to federal dollars in that magnitude finding their way to North Carolina.
Republican Senator Kit Bond of Missouri trashed the stimulus, voted no and then praised its effect in his home district by saying it would create jobs and ultimately spur economic opportunities.
Republican Joe Wilson of South Carolina, remember him? The “you lie” guy? He trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying it would provide jobs and investment in one of the poorer sections of that district.
Republican Senator Bob Bennett of Utah trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying said, the addition of federal funds would maximize the stimulative effect on the local economy.
Republican Pat Tiberi of Ohio trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying it would support businesses and jobs.
Republican Mary Bono Mack trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in her home district by saying the funding will provide much needed assistance.
Republican Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home state by saying that just one proposed stimulus-funded project in Nebraska would create 38 new jobs.
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home state by highlighting a project he says would create over 200 jobs in the first year, and at least another 40 new jobs in the following years.
Republican John Linder of Georgia trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying the employment opportunities created by this program would be quickly utilized.
Republican Mike Castle of Delaware trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by sending out press releases touting how imperative those funds were.
You want to see Mike Castle of Delaware handing out one of those giant checks? Yes, as if he hadn‘t actually voted to kill the money that‘s in that check. Mike Castle is running for senator from Delaware now, presumably on the platform of being a giant hypocrite.
Republican Eric Cantor not only trashed the stimulus and voted no on it, he coordinated the feat of having all House Republicans vote against it. Then he held a job fair in his home district at which nearly which half of the companies who were at the job fair because they were in a position to hire have received stimulus funds.
Even John Boehner, leader of the House Republicans, who has led the trashing of the stimulus and voted no on it and who bragged so enthusiastically on Republicans in the House all voting against it.
When it came to his home district, John Boehner praised the federal funding for shovel-ready projects that will create much needed jobs.
Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of denying-global-warming fame - he trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised the effect in his home state by saying it would help spur additional economic growth.
Republican Jack Kingston of Georgia trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying these funds should help save or create local jobs.
Republican John Carter of Texas trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying it was a victory for the economy in central Texas.
Republican Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania trashed the stimulus, voted no, then praised its effect in his home district by saying it would be great for employment in the area.
Shall I go on? I could. I could keep going until the top of the hour and beyond. But you get the idea, right? This stuff isn‘t secret. The conservative newspaper “The Washington Times” had a big feature on this today. “Politico” has reported on it as well calling what the Republicans are doing here a “cash-and-trash” strategy.
The blog “Think Progress” has done yeoman‘s work tallying up all the Republicans who have done this and posting pictures of them handing out giant checks representing funds that these politicians voted against even though they‘re now taking credit for handing it over.
Even the president has called out Republicans for attending ribbon cuttings for stimulus-funded projects that they voted against. The White House has put some of the do entation of Republican hypocrisy on this in writing.
None of this is a secret, which is the most important thing to understand about it. Republicans right now do not care about policy. By which I mean, they will not vote for things that even they admit are good policies.
On policy terms, they have been caught bragging on the stimulus as good policy. I have no doubt that some of them think that health reform is good policy. We know they think things like a deficit commission or cap and trade or pay-go are good policy because they‘re on the record supporting them.
But they‘re not going to vote for them because - screw policy. Screw what even they believe is good for the country.
Screw what even they believe is good for their own districts. They are not voting yes for even things that they agree with, for anything substantive.
They are not going to vote yes for anything substantive that this president supports. It‘s not going to happen.
You‘re not going to earn Republican votes for a second stimulus, for example, by pointing out it‘s good policy that creates jobs. We know they already know that.
They concede that in their home districts and they are still not voting for it. And they are unembarrassed about this fact. They are not embarrassed. Charging them with hypocrisy, appealing to their better, more practical, more what‘s-best-for-the-country patriotic angels is like trying to teach your dog to drive.
It wastes a lot of time. It won‘t work. And ultimately the dog comes out of the exercise less embarrassed for failing than you do for trying.
Grow up, Democrats. Face the music. Do it alone. You‘re the majority. Kill the filibuster if they won‘t let you use that majority. The country needs you to.
© 2010 Independent Media Ins ute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/145629/
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The Repug bas s, SLAPPED!
Was it really long-awaited?
Do you support that kind of socialism?
So? This was the only bipartisan bill.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz0fdk06Y0T
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) worked for weeks with Reid's blessing and frequent involvement to craft an $85 billion jobs bill, a measure that seemed destined to break the partisan logjam that has ground the Senate to a halt.
But as Baucus, Grassley and President Barack Obama were preparing to celebrate a rare moment of bipartisan Kumbaya on Thursday, Reid stunned a meeting of Senate Democrats by announcing he was scrapping Baucus-Grassley
The Dems are completely unable to deliver the bipartisanship that was a central part of their platform just one year ago. No wonder that centrist democrats are becoming a very rare specimen in DC.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/pos...d=opinionsbox1
Bayh to Obama: take this job and shove it
Millions of Americans long to tell their bosses “take this job and shove it.” Hardly any have the power and money to do so, especially in these recessionary times. Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana, however, is the exception. His stunning retirement from the Senate is essentially a loud and emphatic “screw you” to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. For months now, Bayh has been screaming at the top of his voice that the party needs to reorient toward a more popular, centrist agenda -- one that emphasizes jobs and fiscal responsibility over health care and cap and trade. Neither the White House nor the Senate leadership has given him the response he wanted. Their bungling of what should have been a routine bipartisan jobs bill last week seems to have been the last straw.
It's amazing how terrible they are. I wouldn't be suprised if republicans successfully have them labeled the party of no by election time.
From the article you linked:
Reid said his bill would include four basic provisions: Build America bonds, a small-business tax program that allows quick expense write-offs, a one-year extension of the highway act and a bipartisan tax-credit deal struck by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
That one left a mark.
Was this the final straw for Bah? Nice job Harry.
That doesn't make a jobs bill. We'll see the bipartisan support that Reid's bill will get.
Yes it does make a jobs bill. Don't be such a sore loser.
Why are you such a fan of government intervention in the economy now anyway?
Socialist.
So you don't know... gotcha.
I don't know what?
I dispute the idea that there were a couple of different bills with bipartisan support. There was one and the democrats killed it.
Bill /= Provision.
You just said you don't know if Reid's bill will have bipartisan support.
Do you know now?
Let's face it. The left and right are too far apart to make a bipartisan bill. The republicans will introduce ideas that will be flat out ignored by the democrats. The republicans will not vote for more redistribution of wealth at the scale the democrats want.
Uh? I'd strongly advise you to read the posts in this thread. If you already did it, I suggest you to write to Politico.
Again, there was ONE bipartisan bill and Reid killed it. What's so difficult to understand about this?
I don't have anything to write to Politico. And this is in this thread:
Again, do you know what kind of bipartisan support Reid's bill will get?
There was one bill among others supported by a single democrat and a bunch of republicans. As a matter of fact, the lack of support from the democrat caucus is what killed it. Doesn't sound too bipartisan to me.
Let's face it. God forbid you have to give this administration any kind of credit if they do manage to pass a bill with republican support that helps americans.
The we-hate-deficits (unless-they-make-us-and-our-owners-richer) Repug demands met in the bipartisan "jobs" bill were more deficit-increasing giveways for the wealthy.
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/...e-jobs-please/
Okay, just don't use me as a proxy to channel your disagreements with them.
Of course not, otherwise why would I say we'll see? And Reid will probably attach this so-called jobs bill to a bigger one in order to get it passed, I suspect.
Really? It was supported by a single democrat? How do you know that? Please, provide a link.
I haven't disagreed with anybody. I merely quoted the article you posted.
So you don't know... gotcha.
You need to read the articles you post. I'm not here to do your homework.
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