unanimous consent is necessary to get anything done in the Senate

Since when?

I think my head is going to explode. I can't believe I'm losing sleep over a bill.

(On second thought, maybe it's the coffee. But still, I can't wait for this danged bill to pass.)

I pray the food stamps are put back in during conference along with other low income cuts. Otherwise, we royally screwed and the anger will only build.

So COBRA is still in?

Krugman uses a good metaphor. Building a bridge that goes half way across.

This package should have been all stimulus. Meaning all spending. It should have been targeted at building a 21st century economy. Infrastructure, virtual and physical. Power grid. Hospitals. Schools. Roads and bridges. Everything. Green transportation. Now is the time to do it. We may never get the same change again.

And it was killed by the idea of "bipartisanship".

Obama should have made his case, and made everyone come to him. If they didnt want to jump on that train, they would be left behind. Right wingers should understand that concept.

Gawd, Benedict Arnold Nelson just thanked Benedict Arnold Lieberman. We are screwed.

Is there a clip of Krugman chatting with Rush Limbaugh out there? Morning Joe is rather lightweight.

42% In Tax cuts...Pelosi better fight hard in committee. Approximately 330 billion in tax cuts.

It's supposed to have 54% tax cuts now, and it's still $780 billion so if Joe "blow his coporate sugar daddy" had anything to do with it, it's sounds like another cave-in by Dems.

Jeebus.

This is why we needed Howard Dean, to go to AZ and flip that state cause Kyl bearly won, because Wall Street wins again and we lose. Republican did say they wanted Obama to fail, and this means more jobless Americans, as the GOP always blames everything else they fuck up on Democrats.

Harry Reid just caved into same old crap.

It is all abysmally stupid, but so what?

This is not the final form of the stimulus bill, it is nothing more (and nothing less) than the highest hurdle it has to pass - the one time Obama and the Dems absolutely need at least a handful of GOP votes.

Once the bill passes, however mangled, the president is completely in the driver's seat, because he will have both the money and the megaphone.

Obama should Veto this bill...Regardless, of what comes out, and intrroduce his own measure.

From daily Kos:

The so-called "moderate compromise" in the Senate cuts $140 billion in spending from the stimulus legislation, but leaves in place between $300 billion and $350 billion in tax cuts

Harry Reid does it again, Obama can't veto this tax cut dog, and we, the taxpayers are going to pay to have corporate American campaign contributors bleed American dry with these nice tax cuts. They don't trickle down as Obama has clearly stated.

Holy Cow is Lindsey Gramm a cry baby. His entire speech is complaining and trying to paint Obama a failure.

What a drama queen.

The selective job bill, whereby favoritism might or might leave you employed. They'll funny money and it's not change at all. American can't believe it. It's complete crapshoot. The US will still go belly up.

It's bullshit.

The answer to the Republicans' Hooveresque call for no spending is simple:
Give the Wingnuts what they want - and more!
President Obama should offer to remove ALL stimulus spending... in the Red states.
Now THAT would considerably lower the cost of the stimulus package while saving most of the nation from catastrophe.

Somehow, I have a feeling that such a move would immediately create some more GOP converts to the side of common sense and history.
Just a guess, of course.

This truly sucks. But I don't place all of the blame on Harry Reid - I blame Obama. Mr. Bipartisan introduced a bill with a bunch of bullshit tax cuts with little or no stimulative effect, with the hope of getting Republican votes. Instead, he got 0 Rethugs in the House, while in the Senate the stimulus is getting nickel and dimed to death by "Centrists." And all the while David Brooks and co will claim that Obama started too far to the left. CRAP! Obama started in the middle and the package will end up on the right. He should have started with an all-spending bill and then allowed tax cuts to be part of the bargain to get the Rethuglian votes needed to get it through the Senate.

reality check: imagine if it was President McCain right now.

The "reformed" bill is a major blow and will be perceived as the failure for the new president.

His mistake, offering tax cuts from the start, even before Repugs began making a raucous.

He needs to tighten his boot straps, take stock and do business in a lot less generous way, even with a tinge of required authority, from here on. The only people who caved in the process are democrats.

He has no choice but to pass the bill at the moment, coz it's no time for game play. He cannot afford to Veto it, especially when fellow democrats cut the deals.

But this is not a good start for the new president. I'm pissed reading the areas affected by the proposed spending cuts- Education and Mass Transit.

Harry Reid, if wish could disappear from the face of this earth. Absolute asshat, with no spine or leadership. Forget Rethuglicans, he cannot organize his fellow democrats.

Shame on Democratic senators. Have to say, Madame speaker- partly because of the numbers in her house- has more balls than Harry could ever grow.

haha. Vitter just put forth an amendment to prohibit ACORN from receiving any funds from the bill. He said they have been found guilty of MASSIVE voter fraud.

What an idiot.

Looks like a cloture vote on Monday morning according to Reid. A few more votes tonight and they should be done.

This is a Democratic/Obama victory. Spector read off a list of things that were reduced, not cut out completely. And this is just one bill--there will be many others with education aid, etc. Chill out and enjoy winning for once.

I'm not seeing anywhere whether stabilization aid to the states was cut. Does anybody know? That's one of the most important parts of the package- letting the states be forced to run a highly contractionary fiscal policy would be economically disastrous.

And lo, the noble work of the "centrists":

"In addition to the large cut in state aid, the Senate agreement would cut nearly $20 billion proposed for school construction; $8 billion to refurbish federal buildings and make them more energy efficient; $1 billion for the early childhood program Head Start; and $2 billion from a plan to expand broadband data networks in rural and underserved areas." (NYT)

Speaking as a local school board member with crumbling buildings and facing massive budget cuts- this is insane. We have renovation/rebuild projects ready to go to fix our schools that would immediately put architects, construction workers, etc. to work. We have a huge waitlist for Head Start that would put teachers (and yes, they are people too) to work - AND would provide quality care so low-income parents can stabilize and seek work AND will pay off big time by preparing kids well for life.... Meanwhile, without the emergency $ for the state (the source of most of our funding), we are looking at mass layoffs, shorter school year.... in short, an implosion. Gee thanks, Ben and Susan and Harry.

The notion that the Republicans think they are going to get anyway by continuing to feed america the same old crap is insane.

There must be a way we can get it through their thick skulls... if there was just some way we could make them wade around in their own feces for a while maybe, just maybe they would finally smell the stench and shift something....