The Progressive Gadfly: DeFazio Explains His 'No' on Stimulus
Looking through the vote tally at the seven House Democrats who opposed the final stimulus bill today, you see reliably right-leaning members of the party's Blue Dog Coalition: Reps. Heath Shuler (D-NC), Bobby Bright (D-AL), Walt Minnick (D-ID), Pete DeFazio (D-OR) ... hold on.
DeFazio is a stalwart liberal and member of the Progressive Caucus. Why would he vote against the bill his party and president backed so strongly?
As DeFazio explained following the vote, he believed in the bill's education and transportation goals -- though he has long decried the stimulus' shortchanging of infrastructure relative to highways. "I couldn't justify borrowing money for tax cuts," he said. Tax breaks make up more than 35% of the final stimulus bill.
"Come on, school construction?" he asked, visibly frustrated that money for that goal had been sliced from the bill. "Why did that have to come out for more tax cuts?"
When asked about the need to bridge the gap between the House and Senate bills in order to win over the three GOP votes needed to prevent a filibuster, DeFazio was as blunt as can be: "We all know that's a convenient artifice from the Senate ... do away with the filibuster or have a real filibuster. It's convenient for [the Senate]. It gives them clout to push around the House and the president."
Whether you agree with DeFazio or not, liberal Democrats have rarely felt free to buck their party on major votes in recent years. It remains to be seen how the Obama administration and DeFazio's leadership will view his stance.
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He's an important gadfly. We need more people like him in the CPC to stand up and push for a more progressive agenda out of the White House.
February 13, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hear, hear!
February 13, 2009 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good for you Defazio.
Now get your ass on the TeeVee and get the liberal message out there. We can't ride Bush's unpopularity forever, we need to make our case and take back the public debate.
February 13, 2009 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I, for one—as a constituent located in Eugene OR, in the heart of his district—and, a long time progressive activist, am proud of his principled stand and the leadership he exerts. As are the overwhelming number of constituents he represents.
Representative DeFazio has had little meaningful competition emerge over his Congressional career, and is widely liked and respected. It's likely that this will remain the case, so long as he sits in the US House of Representatives.
It's unfortunate that he felt that the baby had to be thrown out with the bath water, but his actions speak to his passion about these issues, particularly those involving infrastructure, transportation and education.
February 13, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good to see some disappointment expressed from the left to go along with the partisan stiffarm from the Repugs. That moves the bill into the center, where the action is.
We need support from the folks in the middle to make this work, so criticism from both extremes is a good thing.
February 13, 2009 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't you mean support from the folks in the muddle?
February 13, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's easy to stand on principle when you know the vote isn't going to be close.
February 13, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm an Oregonian and DeFazio is a hot dog grand stander. He is just doing Rush Limbaugh's work now. He should be feeling some pain and consequences for undermining his party's cause.
February 13, 2009 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink