SMALL BUSINESS AND POLITICS WORKING TOGETHER
7 years ago
Update: 10:54PM CBS News is reporting that "The House of Representatives late Wednesday passed President Barack Obama's $819 billion plan to stimulate the economy and curtail the nation's year-old recession. The 244-188 vote proceeded along party lines as expected. Only 12 Democrats opposed the measure, and no Republicans supported it."
The House of Representatives votes on the stimulus package today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday called the bill "most critical piece of legislation [Congress] will consider this session." Democrats have an overwhelming majority in the House so it will pass without difficulty. Obama reached out to House Republicans yesterday but they seem primarily interesting in imposing their already failed policies on Obama. After all, if it didn't work in eight years, maybe four more will do the trick. That seems to be their thinking. Obama tried, apparently they were impressed by the gesture, but it will have no effect in the long-term because apparently most if not all of them will vote against the package. Obama on the meeting:
Of course, the House is only phase 1. Next comes the Senate. On Tuesday, CNN reports,
MSNBC reported last night that the final form of the bill will likely be what Obama wants, despite Republican opposition, which is spreading disinformation and sometimes making things up in a desperate attempt to derail the package. It won't work. Obama has the highest approval rating of any incoming American president in history. Those who seek to obstruct him are, at present, swimming against the tide. So whatever the opposition, reports are that the deal will be done by the mid-February deadline. There are things in the package that can legitimately be quibbled with, and it's clear that the boost to the economy will not be immediate (Republicans claim their suggestions will lead to immediate improvement, though how that can be claimed given that their policies put us here in the first place, is anyone's guess. Ideology is blind, after all).
A final thought for the day. I was reading a report from Gallup called "State of the States: Political Party Affiliation".
The caption for this map reads:
The implications, argue the Gallup site, are that "The political landscape of the United States has clearly shifted in the Democratic direction, and in most states, a greater proportion of state residents identified as Democrats or said they leaned to the Democratic Party in 2008 than identified as Republicans or leaned Republican."
The House of Representatives votes on the stimulus package today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday called the bill "most critical piece of legislation [Congress] will consider this session." Democrats have an overwhelming majority in the House so it will pass without difficulty. Obama reached out to House Republicans yesterday but they seem primarily interesting in imposing their already failed policies on Obama. After all, if it didn't work in eight years, maybe four more will do the trick. That seems to be their thinking. Obama tried, apparently they were impressed by the gesture, but it will have no effect in the long-term because apparently most if not all of them will vote against the package. Obama on the meeting:
"I don't expect 100% agreement from my Republican colleagues, but I hope that we can put politics aside...The main message I have is that the statistics every day underscore the urgency of the economic situation," the president said. "The American people expect action."
Of course, the House is only phase 1. Next comes the Senate. On Tuesday, CNN reports,
key Senate committees took up the Senate's separate but similar version of the bill. Next week, the full Senate will vote on its version. Should both the Senate and House pass different versions, the two bills would have to be conferenced together. Then, both chambers would have to vote on the new, conferenced version in the coming weeks.
MSNBC reported last night that the final form of the bill will likely be what Obama wants, despite Republican opposition, which is spreading disinformation and sometimes making things up in a desperate attempt to derail the package. It won't work. Obama has the highest approval rating of any incoming American president in history. Those who seek to obstruct him are, at present, swimming against the tide. So whatever the opposition, reports are that the deal will be done by the mid-February deadline. There are things in the package that can legitimately be quibbled with, and it's clear that the boost to the economy will not be immediate (Republicans claim their suggestions will lead to immediate improvement, though how that can be claimed given that their policies put us here in the first place, is anyone's guess. Ideology is blind, after all).
A final thought for the day. I was reading a report from Gallup called "State of the States: Political Party Affiliation".
The caption for this map reads:
The accompanying map shows party strength by state for 2008, ranging from states that can be considered solidly Democratic (a Democratic advantage in party identification of 10 percentage points or more) to those that can be considered solidly Republican (a Republican advantage in party identification of 10 percentage points or more). States in which the partisan advantage is less than 5 points in either direction are considered "competitive."
The implications, argue the Gallup site, are that "The political landscape of the United States has clearly shifted in the Democratic direction, and in most states, a greater proportion of state residents identified as Democrats or said they leaned to the Democratic Party in 2008 than identified as Republicans or leaned Republican."
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