Via CNN: For House and Senate, it’s time to compromise
The Senate passed its economic recovery package Tuesday, setting the stage for what could be a bitter battle with the House as the two chambers try to reconcile the differences between their versions of the plan.
The bill passed the chamber by a 61-37 vote, with three Republicans, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter being the only ones to vote for the bill. One expects that they will be the targets of substantial ire from rightward commentators as of, well, right now. Of course, anyone familiar with their careers will not be surprised that they were willing to cross the aisle. And while rightward blogggers, talkshow hosts, and talking heads will likely excoriate them, the bottom line is that the GOP probably is in as good a position as they can be at the moment politics-wise. They will be able to claim (assuming they continue to oppose the bill en masse in the conference and when the vote takes place over the conference report) that they opposed the bill, so if it doesn’t work/is perceived to have not worked they can claim that it wasn’t their fault. Moreover, because the bill did manage to pass the Senate, they can’t be blamed for obstructing it, either. If this stimulus package works/is perceived to have worked, the Democrats are going to get most of the political capital anyway, so the overall political calculus makes sense.
In short: if the GOP had remained monolithic in its opposition, the political price would have been great.
So, the questions are now how fast can the conference committee start is work, and how will the bill evolve during that stage of the process?
The above-linked CNN piece details some of the deviations between the House and Senate versions. On those counts, they do not appear be all that different, but there are far more details in the bills than a list of bullets can easily encapsulate.
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February 11th, 2024 at 4:52 am
excellent analysis.
February 11th, 2024 at 12:02 pm
But wait there is more — Apparently the hope is that if president Obama can not effect change in Washington DC – young voters will get disillusioned with politics – stay away from the next election and wha-la-la Republicans WIN!!
Clever – No work, No effort, No change, and No hope – just what we are looking for as a nation. Wads of cash with little or no effort – jheezz why is the economy in the sewer?