« Read the Final Stimulus -- With One Executive Pay Cap Left Intact | Home | Paul Hodes Attacks Judd Gregg -- Just In Case -- While Reaffirming 2010 Senate Candidacy »
Senate Stimulus Vote Expected by Tonight
The House is set to pass the final stimulus deal today, with the Senate to follow as early as this evening. The one sticking point is Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who is attending his mother's funeral today and has to return to Washington for the vote. Brown's vote is critical in this case because the ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) won't be able to make it to the Capitol this time, meaning that the stimulus will likely slip past the finish line with the bare minimum of 60 votes needed to break a threatened filibuster.
Advertisement
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
Isn't it about time to modernize the voting process so we don't have these situations? Why can't Brown or Kennedy vote from afar in these circumstances?
February 13, 2009 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Because everyone would come up with an excuse and no one would vote from the senate or the house. I'm not saying that kennedy and brown aren't legitimate, I'm just pointing out the slippery slope situation. Also, states would want their senators in washington fighting for them and voting for the state's interests. If it gets to the point where a senator cannot perform his or her duties, then the remedy is appointing a new senator.
February 13, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ted Kennedy clearly isn't able to perform even the most important of duties, to be present to vote on a crucial bill. He needs to resign for the good of the country and have a replacement appointed.
February 13, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
He'll have to do it on his own (and he won't); no one else will even suggest that.
February 13, 2009 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
...and she'll finally get her $13 a week to cover her gas and mortgage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI
February 13, 2009 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
But, but, but Judd Gregg's recusal is no longer operative, so there's one more vote right there.
February 13, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it a filibuster or the paygo rules that requires 60 votes? If it is a filibuster, let 'em at it! It would be a pleasure to watch the repiglicans fiddle while rome burns.
February 13, 2009 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
You have to have 60 votes for closure...
February 13, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
First, it's "cloture." Second, that's not the issue here. There isn't even a filibuster threatened. The bill needs a 3/5 majority to pass because of the paygo budget rules. The reporting on this has been abominable.
February 13, 2009 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's PAYGO.
February 13, 2009 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, and the failure to clarify this issue in the press is driving me batty. Come on folks. A filibuster is easier to stare down; the difference matters.
February 13, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Kennedy and Brown can't make it, doesn't the Senate then quorum at 98, meaning you need 59 votes?
February 13, 2009 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
nope...you still need sixty.
February 13, 2009 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only way the number drops is if actual Senate seats are vacant...if 2 seats were empty then you'd need 59.
February 13, 2009 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't the MN seat vacant?
February 13, 2009 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
SFCWallace: "The only way the number drops is if actual Senate seats are vacant...if 2 seats were empty then you'd need 59."
westofrome: "Isn't the MN seat vacant?"
Yes. That's one, which by most accounts is less than two. But thanks for the tip.
February 13, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's pretty apparent that Sen. Kennedy is gravely ill. You know he would be there otherwise. Isn't there precedent for a "gentlemen's agreement" in a particularly compelling situation like this whereby a Senator who would be casting an opposing vote to refrain from voting, as an indication of respect and consideration - and an acknowledgment of "there but for the grace of God..." If not there should be, and there **should** be a Republican with enough dignity, respect, and sense of honor to do it in this case.
If the 60 votes is needed for cloture and they don't have it ---- I agree: let the Republicans stand there and read the phone book and look like the obstructionist idiots they are being!!
Gregg's vote is going to be interesting - will he really complete the stab in the back? (I'm assuming that having him able to vote was the motivation behind yesterday's really, really tacky timing of his announcement.)
February 13, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
He's voting 'no'. Even when he was up for nomination, he sidestepped a question if he was for the stimulus.
February 13, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
First, the sixty votes are not needed to invoke cloture; they are needed to pass the bill, as the budget rules require a 3/5 majority for large deficit spending bills. Second, some Republican just "not voting" wouldn't be enough for the same reason that these two senators not showing up doesn't reduce the required number of votes: the abstaining Senator is still a seated member, meaning 3/5 is still more than 59. He would actually have to vote for the bill, which would be much less politically palatable. And finally, a "gentlemen's agreement" requires gentlemen.
February 13, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't it a grand way of showing support for the American people for the Republican Party to stand by playing POLITICS (it's already been proven they are RE-trying their actions during the first two years in the Clinton administration (voting no on everything)) instead of standing up and having their OWN opinions about a bill.
Oh sure, there are some that deeply feel this is a bad bill; but I'm also sure there are at least a few that feel the bill is NEEDED and NOW. Those Republicans fear their jobs over their fellow American's jobs.
Those Republicans are forcing Democrats that have lost their mother or those that are deathly sick to attend a meeting to vote for a bill they deeply believe in - for political gain later????
Republicans should be PROUD.
February 13, 2009 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
They do have their own opinions about the bill and where the spending should be targeted...the Dems just disagree with them...It's simple, Dems get the bill they want, if it works they claim credit, when it turns out to be a complete waste of time and money, they get the blame.
February 13, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting phrasing there Sarge: "*if* it works...*when* it doesn't..."
But anyway, the real danger isn't that it won't work...it's that it won't be enough. Say it's enough to drop unemployment by 2% ...that's an "economically successful" bill. But with unemployment forecasted to in double digits in the next year or so, what if that 2% drop takes us from what would have been 11% unemployed down to 9% by the 2010 elections? Republicans would gleefully point out that unemployment was worse than before the stimulus. In other words, my fear is that the administration may have created an *economic* success that will end up a *political* failure.
February 13, 2009 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
If anyone expect this stimulus bill to end the recession, you're going to be disappointed. It's not nearly large enough. But realistically, doubling the size is not in the cards. There's a limit to how much the government can borrow, especially in a difficult credit market, and the effects of adding on $1.6 TRILLION dollars on top of the already enormous $1 trillion dollars a year deficit would be too much.
What this bill is going to be able to accomplish is to make the recession less severe, which is certainly not nothing. If it reduces peak unemployment from 12% to 9%, that will make a hell of a lot of difference, not only in the short term, but in how long the recession persists.
February 13, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Meanwhile, if Coleman would just give up to the inevitable, Franken would be there to vote.
February 13, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which, of course, is precisely why he isn't giving up. Care to guess at the promises and behind the scenes help he's getting from the GOP Senators to *keep* on fighting?? Disgusting.
February 13, 2009 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink