Look at this series of quotes issued by Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina this morning:
From Politico.com:
On the one side is South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who refers to the spending package as “a tremendous mistake.”
“The spending plan will prove to be an absolute disaster,” Sanford said in an interview. “The bottom line is that it’s horrible.”
"The problem with the Republican brand is that we haven’t done as advertised. We ran as conservatives and didn’t govern that way,” said Sanford. “The way out of the electoral carnage of the last few years does not rest in being all things to all people. It’s delivering on what you promised.”
From CBS News:
“Being against it doesn’t preclude taking the money,” Sanford said on CBS. “I think there are a number of wrinkles that have caused a number of us to say ‘Wait a minute, let’s take a long look at whether or not this really makes sense for our state.’”
The inconsistency of these quotes from our favorite principled governor warrants a special code-red emergency strike. How can we let this go to waste?
First some background:
While congressional Republicans are almost uniform in opposition to the stimulus package recently signed into law by President Obama, there is an interesting divide growing among the 22 Republican governors that could give us a hint into the primary battle in the 2012 Presidential Election. I'll call this divide "Crist/Sanford Chasm."
Meet Charlie Crist, the popular Republican governor of Florida, the perennial swing state. Crist enjoys popularity in the 70% range. A couple of recent polls have shown that if he tries to run for the United States Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Republican Senator Mel Martinez, he would win in a landslide. Ditto if he runs for reelection as governor. But Crist's life isn't so easy these days. Last week, he committed "heresy" by introducing Obama at an event in Florida promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The right wing was up in arms, with some questioning Crist's conservative credentials, and criticizing him for taking money from what they feel is a bill full of useless pork.
Crist is no Rockefeller Republican, in fact he's pretty much a mainstream conservative. But Crist understands that his state is facing a severe budget shortfall, and a lot of people are hurting from home foreclosures, which are happening at a faster rate in Florida. So this fiscal conservative decided that he needed to act in the interest of his state (the website www.recovery.gov projects that Florida will gain 200,000 jobs from the bill). So Crist puts aside his ideology to take care of the pressing needs of his constituents. How dare he.
On the other end of the spectrum is South Carolina governor Mark Sanford. Mr. Sanford used to be in the House of Representatives where he took such "principled" stands as opposing a memorial for the Underground Railroad because it costed too much (he and Ron Paul were the only representatives to vote against it). But lucky Sanford gets elected in 2002 to "reform" government in the Palmetto state. Sanford certainly isn't making many friends. He has constantly battled the Republican-controlled legislature over the state budget, because he has sought enormous cuts in state programs that even conservative Republicans weren't comfortable with. He even brought in live pigs to demonstrate pork in state spending bills (this story helped the Strike ace a college presentation on Governors trying and failing to exert extraordinary executive power). Good old Sanford unfortunately lost most of these spending battles. A majority of his 100 vetoes have been overridden by the legislature.
Now that Republicans have lost badly in two consecutive elections, much of the party faithful is convinced that it can regain majority status by returning to the principles of strong fiscal conservatism. Heroically taking the mantle of fiscal conservative crusader, Governor Sanford took a post leading the Republican Governor's Association. He expressed early and frequent opposition to the stimulus plan even before it was formally presented. He took the airwaves telling people that the stimulus was just a giant pile of pork, and that the best way to stimulate the economy was to let the free market self-correct. He even publicly criticized Crist for endorsing the measure, questioning his conservative credentials. It looked like this taxpayer hero would show those spend-happy feds that he doesn't need their porky spendulous bill. After all, it's only gonna be used for resodding the mall and STD's, right? His principled stand went far enough that it looked like he would actually reject the stimulus money.
But then reality struck. South Carolina's Congressman, the House Majority Whip James Clyburn publicly feuded with Sanford about the bill and even managed to insert a provision saying that if a governor rejects stimulus money, the state legislature can still authorize it. Faced with growing unemployment and economic malaise, South Carolina desperately needs help. And after his tireless crusade, Sanford is forced to relent.
Amazingly, this is not the first time Sanford has been forced to abandon his ideological principles in the face of political pressure. Earlier this year, he made a big stink about rejecting federal payments for state unemployment insurance, but ended up taking the money when members of both political parties strongly objected.
So to review, Sanford stakes his political reputation going on TV derisively mocking a bill, saying that it's "horrible" and will "do-nothing," but he still does EXACTLY what Governor Crist did: accept the money. Sanford can no longer say to himself: " even though Governor Crist has high approval ratings, and endless opportunities for higher office, he's doesn't have what I have: absolute ideological purity!"
AND NOW A BONUS SPECIAL COMMENT FROM THE BIG PICTURE:
"Mark Sanford's wild ride over the past two months is a lesson for the kids out there. It seems easy and fun to drink from the seductive bottle of holier-than-thou ideology, but don't be lured in. The next morning, when the reality strikes that voters reward statesmen who deliver needed services not self-righteous ideologues, you'll have to vomit back up all that ideology, take the bitter medicine of government spending, and feel the soul-crushing humiliation that you were just exposed before the world as a buffoonish hypocrite who abandons his principles at the first sign of political trouble."
Showing posts with label GOP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GOP. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Daily Strike-2/16/09-President's Day, Stimulus Post-Mortem, The Bizzarro World
I'm back from a great weekend in Syracuse and ready for the Daily Strike.
STIMULUS POST MORTEM: President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law tomorrow, but the political battles, as many have noted, are just beginning. Each pundit seems to have their own take on the winners and losers. I think the bottom line is that Obama succeeded in both getting the bill passed and learning several valuable lessons as he embarks on other legislative battles. There seems to be consensus that he should no longer conduct serious outreach to House Republicans. That "big goose egg" the House handed to him on the stimulus bill (as Michael Steele put it) says a lot about the House Republican party. They're goal is to be unified in opposition. What benefit does he get by reaching out to the minority party if they don't reach back their hands in return?
In the Senate, it seems that the formula Obama took to gain passage of the stimulus was the "60 vote method." Give up whatever content in the bill you must to gain the couple of Republicans necessary to break the filibuster. There are two problems with this strategy. If you are going to pursue it, you must first propose the most extreme version of what you want. For example, if he wanted a $900 billion stimulus, he should have proposed a $1.1 trillion. That way, the "reasonable moderates" can come up with a "compromise" that makes them feel "centrist" without doing harm to the legislation. Second, if he can't get these moderates to go along with him, he should consider playing hardball. Many House Democrats have argued that if Republicans are intent on killing bills, they should actually stand up and read the phone book for 24 hours like they did in the 1960's with the civil rights bills. I'm not completely convinced that this will work because Republicans are tough, and would totally call our bluff. On the other hand, imagine the country watching Mitch McConnell read recipes on the Senate floor? How could that possibly be good for the Republican party? Eventually, the political pressure would build on the Republicans to allow the bill to come up for a vote.
The other major lesson, and one that the Obama administration has mentioned frequently, is that there is a giant disconnect between the consensus of Washington insiders and the views of the American people, as measured empiracally. The conventional wisdom among the media was that the bill was losing popularity, Obama had failed in his effort to be bipartisan, and that the Republicans were regaining their footing on fiscal conservatism. I see absolutely no evidence that any of this is the case. Obama remains very popular, the Republicans in Congress are extremely unpopular, and Obama has been seen as adaquately trying to foster bipartisan dialogue. One of Obama's great strengths as a candidate was to defy the assumptions of the media and Washington insiders by keenly reading American public. They need to take their use of that skill up a notch. They may not have had to concede anything on the stimulus bill if they didn't listen to the cable news chatter and Republican talking points. They took out some of the "questionable" spending provisions in the bill, like resodding the National Mall, because they were worried that the Republicans' message was getting through. There may be a point when Obama and his ideas are not popular, and when the American public will not grant goodwill to the President. Now is not that time. There will be some important debates in the next few weeks, on financial regulation, housing and the budget. Don't forget the electorate you represent. The data suggests that, as The Big Picture has talked about:
-it likes you
-it dislikes the Republican party
-it is patient, but demanding of significant policy changes
-it wants economic policies that will make its life better
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: The Republican party is convinced that they have won a victory this week by showing opposition to the stimulus bill, as evidenced by this web video from House Republican Whip Eric "Smug Voice" Cantor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM2b2oD8pKY
I think the party is divided between two groups. One group is made up of realist mainstream conservatives who understand that they may have to sacrifice their principles to help out their struggling constituents. This group is pretty much only governors, like Florida's Charlie Crist and Utah's Jon Huntsman Jr. The other 90 percent are living in what The Big Picture and I like to call "The Bizarro Quarter." If you look at a lot of polls, there's a consistent group of 25-33% that still like Bush, dislike Obama, and generally still strongly believe in conservative dogma. I would say almost all Congressional Republicans live in this quarter. And you can't blame them! When would they ever see non-bizzaros? They're districts are ruby red, because all moderate Republicans have been defeated in the past two election cycles. The only calls they get in their offices are from the far-right base, who will ignite a fire under them if they stray from conservative dogma. They listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, because they believe that the rest of the "media" is so far-left that it can't represent any shred of truth. In fact, all polling is done by these left-wing media clowns, so they don't really believe data that shows them being increasingly unpopular. Basically, they're living in a world made up of their own bizzare reality: The country is center-right, but voted for Obama because they were manipulated by the media and upset that the Republicans did not act like fiscal conservatives. Therefore, if they stay true to their conservative principles, they will retain power. If you understand this prism of thinking, you can understand why they would create a video like this. Saturday Night Live did a nice job of summing up bizarro world:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/republican-meeting-open/1018742/
If they can't free themselves from this alternate reality, they will continue to act in the same manner and will keep getting drubbed in elections. Ladies and gentleman, the 2009 Republican party.
More tomorrow about the coming week in The Weekly Strike. Thanks to The Big Picture for his great post the other day. See you tomorrow!
STIMULUS POST MORTEM: President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law tomorrow, but the political battles, as many have noted, are just beginning. Each pundit seems to have their own take on the winners and losers. I think the bottom line is that Obama succeeded in both getting the bill passed and learning several valuable lessons as he embarks on other legislative battles. There seems to be consensus that he should no longer conduct serious outreach to House Republicans. That "big goose egg" the House handed to him on the stimulus bill (as Michael Steele put it) says a lot about the House Republican party. They're goal is to be unified in opposition. What benefit does he get by reaching out to the minority party if they don't reach back their hands in return?
In the Senate, it seems that the formula Obama took to gain passage of the stimulus was the "60 vote method." Give up whatever content in the bill you must to gain the couple of Republicans necessary to break the filibuster. There are two problems with this strategy. If you are going to pursue it, you must first propose the most extreme version of what you want. For example, if he wanted a $900 billion stimulus, he should have proposed a $1.1 trillion. That way, the "reasonable moderates" can come up with a "compromise" that makes them feel "centrist" without doing harm to the legislation. Second, if he can't get these moderates to go along with him, he should consider playing hardball. Many House Democrats have argued that if Republicans are intent on killing bills, they should actually stand up and read the phone book for 24 hours like they did in the 1960's with the civil rights bills. I'm not completely convinced that this will work because Republicans are tough, and would totally call our bluff. On the other hand, imagine the country watching Mitch McConnell read recipes on the Senate floor? How could that possibly be good for the Republican party? Eventually, the political pressure would build on the Republicans to allow the bill to come up for a vote.
The other major lesson, and one that the Obama administration has mentioned frequently, is that there is a giant disconnect between the consensus of Washington insiders and the views of the American people, as measured empiracally. The conventional wisdom among the media was that the bill was losing popularity, Obama had failed in his effort to be bipartisan, and that the Republicans were regaining their footing on fiscal conservatism. I see absolutely no evidence that any of this is the case. Obama remains very popular, the Republicans in Congress are extremely unpopular, and Obama has been seen as adaquately trying to foster bipartisan dialogue. One of Obama's great strengths as a candidate was to defy the assumptions of the media and Washington insiders by keenly reading American public. They need to take their use of that skill up a notch. They may not have had to concede anything on the stimulus bill if they didn't listen to the cable news chatter and Republican talking points. They took out some of the "questionable" spending provisions in the bill, like resodding the National Mall, because they were worried that the Republicans' message was getting through. There may be a point when Obama and his ideas are not popular, and when the American public will not grant goodwill to the President. Now is not that time. There will be some important debates in the next few weeks, on financial regulation, housing and the budget. Don't forget the electorate you represent. The data suggests that, as The Big Picture has talked about:
-it likes you
-it dislikes the Republican party
-it is patient, but demanding of significant policy changes
-it wants economic policies that will make its life better
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: The Republican party is convinced that they have won a victory this week by showing opposition to the stimulus bill, as evidenced by this web video from House Republican Whip Eric "Smug Voice" Cantor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM2b2oD8pKY
I think the party is divided between two groups. One group is made up of realist mainstream conservatives who understand that they may have to sacrifice their principles to help out their struggling constituents. This group is pretty much only governors, like Florida's Charlie Crist and Utah's Jon Huntsman Jr. The other 90 percent are living in what The Big Picture and I like to call "The Bizarro Quarter." If you look at a lot of polls, there's a consistent group of 25-33% that still like Bush, dislike Obama, and generally still strongly believe in conservative dogma. I would say almost all Congressional Republicans live in this quarter. And you can't blame them! When would they ever see non-bizzaros? They're districts are ruby red, because all moderate Republicans have been defeated in the past two election cycles. The only calls they get in their offices are from the far-right base, who will ignite a fire under them if they stray from conservative dogma. They listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, because they believe that the rest of the "media" is so far-left that it can't represent any shred of truth. In fact, all polling is done by these left-wing media clowns, so they don't really believe data that shows them being increasingly unpopular. Basically, they're living in a world made up of their own bizzare reality: The country is center-right, but voted for Obama because they were manipulated by the media and upset that the Republicans did not act like fiscal conservatives. Therefore, if they stay true to their conservative principles, they will retain power. If you understand this prism of thinking, you can understand why they would create a video like this. Saturday Night Live did a nice job of summing up bizarro world:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/republican-meeting-open/1018742/
If they can't free themselves from this alternate reality, they will continue to act in the same manner and will keep getting drubbed in elections. Ladies and gentleman, the 2009 Republican party.
More tomorrow about the coming week in The Weekly Strike. Thanks to The Big Picture for his great post the other day. See you tomorrow!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Daily Strike-2/13/09-The Bill is Passed, Without Objection, The Motion To Reconsider Is Laid On The Table
Good evening from Syracuse, New York, home of the 2003 NCAA Basketball champions, Lady Strike, and Democratic freshman Representative Dan Maffei. Tonight's update will be short since I just got in after 6 hours of driving.
SENATE APPROVES: Since I last updated, the Senate finally voted on the stimulus bill 60-38. The vote on waiving the budget point of order (a procedural hurdle due to the fact that the bill increases the deficit) was 60-38, with only an ailing Senator Kennedy unable to show up to the vote (he had shown up earlier in the week). The vote began at 5:30, and ended up lasting until 10:30 because Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown was arriving from his mother's memorial service. The vote was stuck on 59-38 for about 5 hours. After Brown finally arrived and cast his vote, the Senate proceeded to passage of the full bill, with an identical (and much quicker) 60-38 tally.
Not to belabor the point, but the Republican party did not show much class today. First, the House Republican leadership forces their members to vote unanimously against the stimulus bill (even though a few of them were leaning towards supporting it) just to create a story (in my opinion). Then, Senate Republicans were such sticklers that they HAD to bring up the point of order against the budget rule. If they hadn't, only 50 votes would have been needed to pass the bill, Brown could have attended his mother's memorial without worry, and the vote could have closed at 6:00. What they also could have done is what's called proxy voting, when one member opposed to the bill will vote for it, and announce that he has donated his vote to a missing member. They knew that they ultimately didn't have the votes to stop it, so they just engaged in pointless posturing. I would be pretty upset if I was a Democratic Senator. A guy is dying of brain cancer, and another guy just lost his mother, but the Republicans still HAD to be sticklers. Another item of note: Judd Gregg, who recently backed out of the Commerce post, voted against the bill.
SUMMING UP: So the bill is passed. It's certainly not perfect, and may not solve the economic crisis because it's not big enough, but there is a lot of good in it, probably more than people realize. There is unprecedented funding for clean energy, health information technology, transportation infrastructure and aid to states. Let's be honest, none of us would have predicted in 2007 or even early 2008 that a bill of this magnitude would pass in 2009. The tectonic plates of the country have shifted leftward, and if this bill is perceived as succesful, it will open the door to more radical liberal change.
Obama should sign it in a dramatic ceremony next week. Something to look forward to. I'm going to be taking a couple of days of while I'm up in Syracuse, but our guest bloggers will be filling your blogging needs, and I'll chime in if something dramatic happens. The next Daily Strike will be on Monday night, followed by a Weekly Strike on Tuesday. Have a great holiday weekend!
SENATE APPROVES: Since I last updated, the Senate finally voted on the stimulus bill 60-38. The vote on waiving the budget point of order (a procedural hurdle due to the fact that the bill increases the deficit) was 60-38, with only an ailing Senator Kennedy unable to show up to the vote (he had shown up earlier in the week). The vote began at 5:30, and ended up lasting until 10:30 because Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown was arriving from his mother's memorial service. The vote was stuck on 59-38 for about 5 hours. After Brown finally arrived and cast his vote, the Senate proceeded to passage of the full bill, with an identical (and much quicker) 60-38 tally.
Not to belabor the point, but the Republican party did not show much class today. First, the House Republican leadership forces their members to vote unanimously against the stimulus bill (even though a few of them were leaning towards supporting it) just to create a story (in my opinion). Then, Senate Republicans were such sticklers that they HAD to bring up the point of order against the budget rule. If they hadn't, only 50 votes would have been needed to pass the bill, Brown could have attended his mother's memorial without worry, and the vote could have closed at 6:00. What they also could have done is what's called proxy voting, when one member opposed to the bill will vote for it, and announce that he has donated his vote to a missing member. They knew that they ultimately didn't have the votes to stop it, so they just engaged in pointless posturing. I would be pretty upset if I was a Democratic Senator. A guy is dying of brain cancer, and another guy just lost his mother, but the Republicans still HAD to be sticklers. Another item of note: Judd Gregg, who recently backed out of the Commerce post, voted against the bill.
SUMMING UP: So the bill is passed. It's certainly not perfect, and may not solve the economic crisis because it's not big enough, but there is a lot of good in it, probably more than people realize. There is unprecedented funding for clean energy, health information technology, transportation infrastructure and aid to states. Let's be honest, none of us would have predicted in 2007 or even early 2008 that a bill of this magnitude would pass in 2009. The tectonic plates of the country have shifted leftward, and if this bill is perceived as succesful, it will open the door to more radical liberal change.
Obama should sign it in a dramatic ceremony next week. Something to look forward to. I'm going to be taking a couple of days of while I'm up in Syracuse, but our guest bloggers will be filling your blogging needs, and I'll chime in if something dramatic happens. The next Daily Strike will be on Monday night, followed by a Weekly Strike on Tuesday. Have a great holiday weekend!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Daily Strike-2/12/09-Today, However, Not So Great
Good Thursday evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today wasn't quite the day Obama had in mind.
GREGG: The big news of the day was that Commerce Secretary nominee and Republican Senator Judd Gregg removed his name from consideration, because he says he couldn't reconcile his own views with the administration. He mentioned the stimulus package and the 2010 census as areas of disagreement. There had been some chatter that the administration would not let the conservative Gregg have control over the census process in 2010, as Commerce sectretaries typically do, but this still comes as a pretty big surprise.
It seems like the administration is not happy. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seemed to indicate that Gregg had approached Obama about the post. Obama himself told a local TV Station in Peoria, IL that Gregg's decision was somewhat of a surprise.
So what are the repercussions? Firstly, we need a commerce secretary. This is the second one to back out, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. This makes two key cabinet vacancies three weeks into the administration. I suspect the vacancy at Health and Human Services will be announced in the next week or so, but they'll be back at square one for commerce secretary.
Politically, this is not great news for Democrats. Gregg returns to the Senate where he'll vote like a conservative Republican. I'm wondering whether he'll abstain from the vote on the stimulus compromise. His designated replacement, Bonnie Newman, will not get sworn in as Senator. Apparently, she would have been rather moderate and could have provided a critical vote to clear procedural hurdles on many items of the Obama agenda. Gregg announced this afternoon that he will not run for reelection in 2010, so the seat remains a good potential pick up for the Democrats, and their expected nominee Rep. Paul Hodes.
What about Obama? I expect the media to pen story after story on Obama's cabinet troubles in recent weeks, but ultimately, this story will die pretty fast, especially since the details aren't that juicy: Gregg backed out because he doesn't support the administration's policy. I'm still not entirely clear why he accepted the position in the first place.
STIMULUS: No vote on the economic stimulus conference report (final package) today. There were a few final hang-ups on the bill worked out in the morning, and I'm still not sure the bill has been released to the public. The House is expected to vote on the report tomorrow. The first vote will likely be on a special rule governing debate on the package. This should be a strict party line vote. Then, the Republicans will have one chance to recommit the bill to the conference committee (basically, a way to kill the bill). This should fail on another party line vote. Finally, there will be a vote on final passage.
The Republicans have already lost one representative in their quest for unity in opposition. Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, a Republican who upset Rep. William Jefferson (indicted on bribery charges) in a heavily Democratic district in New Orleans, has announced that he will support the final bill. I expect there to be maybe 3 or 4 more defections. I also suspect, as with the original House version, a few conservative Democrats break ranks. My bet for final passage: 246-188 (give or take a few votes).
The bill will then move to the Senate, where things get tricky. To overcome a Republican filibuster, Democrats must get 60 votes; they currently hold 58 seats. With the support of the moderate trio of Snowe, Collins and Specter, they have 61 votes. Senator Ted Kennedy had come back to vote on the Senate bill earlier this week, but he is still suffering from brain cancer, and apparently has returned to Florida and won't be able to make the vote. That brings the vote total down to 60. Also, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown's mother died, and her memorial service is tomorrow. Most likely, the vote will be postponed until Saturday, when Brown can return. But what if something unexpected happens to another Democrat? Will a moderate Republican (say Dick Lugar of Indiana?) cross over and support the final package? They'll figure out some way to do it. It would be pretty low to filibuster the bill knowing that the Democrats would have the votes to overcome it if they were all present and voting?
THE PRESIDENT: Today, Obama continued his road tour with a speech in Peoria, IL at the Catepillar Factory. The company has claimed that if the stimulus package passes, they'll be able to rescue some jobs. With a deal already in place, the trip was mostly about symbolism. He also spoke on Capital Hill at a ceremoney honoring the 200th birthday of his favorite President Abraham Lincoln. He has another Lincoln tribute gig tonight in Springfield, IL.
PORKING US: The Republican strategy to fight the stimulus, as I have mentioned earlier, has been focused on:
-using small weird-sounding spending items to characterize the whole bill
-arguing philisophically against government spending in recession, partially denying the success for the New Deal.
-newfound concern over the federal deficit.
Today, the Republican party's shenanigans went on overdrive. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia (one of the Strike's least favorite Reps.) went on the House floor to talk about a supposed provision in the bill that would fun "mouse research" in Speaker Pelosi's home district in San Francisco. Apparently, some Republican staffer sent over this item to the Washington Times, and it ended up on the Drudge Report (the Republican mecca website). Of course there is no such provision. There is funding for various marshing and farming activities, some of which, probably, would apply to research projects in San Francisco (the Strike's wonderful home town!). Kingston took it a step further by trashing San Francisco ad hominem. He was saying how the mice "probably walk around like San Franciscans, with sunglasses and flip flops and they go out to dinner in Sausilito." What the h@!! is he talking about?
The other curious criticism levied today was for a train track to be built from California to Las Vegas. They were calling this wasteful! How could you possibly say that is wasteful? It is infrastructure spending, which you claim to support! They're just using the term "Las Vegas" to associate a legitimate project with something "sinful." I won't waste everyone's time on these clowns, but I wanted to give you an example of what the Republican party has become.
Well, it's time for the Strike to go pack for a weekend with Lady Strike up in Syracuse, where Lady Strike is from. Posting will be light this weekend, but I'll make sure I keep you updated as the House and Senate votes on the final version of the stimulus package. Meanwhile, if there's something I miss while I'm gone, I hope our other bloggers can chip in! Thanks and have a great weekend!
GREGG: The big news of the day was that Commerce Secretary nominee and Republican Senator Judd Gregg removed his name from consideration, because he says he couldn't reconcile his own views with the administration. He mentioned the stimulus package and the 2010 census as areas of disagreement. There had been some chatter that the administration would not let the conservative Gregg have control over the census process in 2010, as Commerce sectretaries typically do, but this still comes as a pretty big surprise.
It seems like the administration is not happy. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seemed to indicate that Gregg had approached Obama about the post. Obama himself told a local TV Station in Peoria, IL that Gregg's decision was somewhat of a surprise.
So what are the repercussions? Firstly, we need a commerce secretary. This is the second one to back out, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. This makes two key cabinet vacancies three weeks into the administration. I suspect the vacancy at Health and Human Services will be announced in the next week or so, but they'll be back at square one for commerce secretary.
Politically, this is not great news for Democrats. Gregg returns to the Senate where he'll vote like a conservative Republican. I'm wondering whether he'll abstain from the vote on the stimulus compromise. His designated replacement, Bonnie Newman, will not get sworn in as Senator. Apparently, she would have been rather moderate and could have provided a critical vote to clear procedural hurdles on many items of the Obama agenda. Gregg announced this afternoon that he will not run for reelection in 2010, so the seat remains a good potential pick up for the Democrats, and their expected nominee Rep. Paul Hodes.
What about Obama? I expect the media to pen story after story on Obama's cabinet troubles in recent weeks, but ultimately, this story will die pretty fast, especially since the details aren't that juicy: Gregg backed out because he doesn't support the administration's policy. I'm still not entirely clear why he accepted the position in the first place.
STIMULUS: No vote on the economic stimulus conference report (final package) today. There were a few final hang-ups on the bill worked out in the morning, and I'm still not sure the bill has been released to the public. The House is expected to vote on the report tomorrow. The first vote will likely be on a special rule governing debate on the package. This should be a strict party line vote. Then, the Republicans will have one chance to recommit the bill to the conference committee (basically, a way to kill the bill). This should fail on another party line vote. Finally, there will be a vote on final passage.
The Republicans have already lost one representative in their quest for unity in opposition. Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, a Republican who upset Rep. William Jefferson (indicted on bribery charges) in a heavily Democratic district in New Orleans, has announced that he will support the final bill. I expect there to be maybe 3 or 4 more defections. I also suspect, as with the original House version, a few conservative Democrats break ranks. My bet for final passage: 246-188 (give or take a few votes).
The bill will then move to the Senate, where things get tricky. To overcome a Republican filibuster, Democrats must get 60 votes; they currently hold 58 seats. With the support of the moderate trio of Snowe, Collins and Specter, they have 61 votes. Senator Ted Kennedy had come back to vote on the Senate bill earlier this week, but he is still suffering from brain cancer, and apparently has returned to Florida and won't be able to make the vote. That brings the vote total down to 60. Also, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown's mother died, and her memorial service is tomorrow. Most likely, the vote will be postponed until Saturday, when Brown can return. But what if something unexpected happens to another Democrat? Will a moderate Republican (say Dick Lugar of Indiana?) cross over and support the final package? They'll figure out some way to do it. It would be pretty low to filibuster the bill knowing that the Democrats would have the votes to overcome it if they were all present and voting?
THE PRESIDENT: Today, Obama continued his road tour with a speech in Peoria, IL at the Catepillar Factory. The company has claimed that if the stimulus package passes, they'll be able to rescue some jobs. With a deal already in place, the trip was mostly about symbolism. He also spoke on Capital Hill at a ceremoney honoring the 200th birthday of his favorite President Abraham Lincoln. He has another Lincoln tribute gig tonight in Springfield, IL.
PORKING US: The Republican strategy to fight the stimulus, as I have mentioned earlier, has been focused on:
-using small weird-sounding spending items to characterize the whole bill
-arguing philisophically against government spending in recession, partially denying the success for the New Deal.
-newfound concern over the federal deficit.
Today, the Republican party's shenanigans went on overdrive. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia (one of the Strike's least favorite Reps.) went on the House floor to talk about a supposed provision in the bill that would fun "mouse research" in Speaker Pelosi's home district in San Francisco. Apparently, some Republican staffer sent over this item to the Washington Times, and it ended up on the Drudge Report (the Republican mecca website). Of course there is no such provision. There is funding for various marshing and farming activities, some of which, probably, would apply to research projects in San Francisco (the Strike's wonderful home town!). Kingston took it a step further by trashing San Francisco ad hominem. He was saying how the mice "probably walk around like San Franciscans, with sunglasses and flip flops and they go out to dinner in Sausilito." What the h@!! is he talking about?
The other curious criticism levied today was for a train track to be built from California to Las Vegas. They were calling this wasteful! How could you possibly say that is wasteful? It is infrastructure spending, which you claim to support! They're just using the term "Las Vegas" to associate a legitimate project with something "sinful." I won't waste everyone's time on these clowns, but I wanted to give you an example of what the Republican party has become.
Well, it's time for the Strike to go pack for a weekend with Lady Strike up in Syracuse, where Lady Strike is from. Posting will be light this weekend, but I'll make sure I keep you updated as the House and Senate votes on the final version of the stimulus package. Meanwhile, if there's something I miss while I'm gone, I hope our other bloggers can chip in! Thanks and have a great weekend!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Daily Strike-1/31/09-Daschle, Gregg, Vocab V
It's Saturday and there's relative quiet in the political world, but still enough for a Daily Strike.
DASCHLE IN TROUBLE: Another one of Obama's appointees, HHS nominee Tom Daschle, is in trouble for not paying taxes on, most notably, a private limo and driver. The Senate Finance will be meeting on Monday to discuss if and how to proceed with his nomination. My guess is that he eventually will be confirmed because of his long experience in the Senate, but this is another embarrassment for Obama's team. Couldn't they have done a better job of vetting this stuff? I bet the Republicans make a stink out of this to try and get some more mileage from the "Democrats are Corrupt" storyline. It probably seems to them that they are onto something: Blago, Daschle, Geithner, Charlie Rangel. In the end, they won't have enough votes to block him.
GREGG UPDATE: A White House Spokesman said today that New Hampshire GOP Senator Judd Gregg is a top contender for the Commerce post, and an announcement could be coming as soon as Monday. The political shuffling that would take place to fill his Senate seat is still largely in question. Apparently Gregg is conditioning his acceptance on Democratic Governor John Lynch appointing a Republican. Nate Silver suggests Liz Hager, who has expressed interest in the seat. Hager is a former state Representative who endorsed Obama last year because of his pro-choice views. Yet, she still calls herself a Republican. You could bet that she'd be a pretty reliable vote for the Democrats, and could help Obama with his bipartisan bona fides.
REPUBLICAN RETREAT: Who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall at the House Republican retreat this weekend in Virginia? Speakers have included Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and polling guru Frank Luntz. The mood apparently is pretty upbeat, and the general consensus seems to be that the party is more united than ever in conservative principles of small taxes and limited government. Apparently there was a lot of bragging about the House GOP's unanimous rejection of the stimulus package. I don't understand the Republicans' thinking here. They are not exactly winning any popularity contests, and they are now bragging about stopping a popular President's signature initiative, when it is abundantly clear to the American public that Obama reached out to them repeatedly. New GOP Chairman Michael Steele gave a cameo appearance and spoke out against "wealth redistribution." If I were the Repbulican party, I wouldn't repeat slogans from a campaign that you lost pretty badly a couple of months ago. Steele's communications should help the GOP develop a new, innovative message, but they'll have to come up with some viable policy alternatives that don't always involve tax cuts.
OBAMA WEEKLY ADDRESS: Obama's address this week again focused (obviously) on the economy. He talked about the stimulus package, and how he will work with leaders of both parties to improve the bill. He also spoke about the culture of greed and corruption on Wall Street, and mentioned this week's revelation that recipients of federal bailout money were getting multi-million dollar bonuses. Obama's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to unveil a package of financial reforms in a week or so.
REPUBLICAN DIVIDE: There's an interesting piece on MSNBC's website about how GOP governors are breaking with their party members in Congress to push for passage of the stimulus. Ahead of the effort are Florida Governor Charlie Crist (who I think is a rising star in the Republican party) and Vermont Governor Jim Douglas. These governors are in charge of states who are facing massive budget shortfalls and significant job losses. It's a lot easier to be against a stimulus package when you are not directly managing a state. One governor not on the bandwagon is the chair of the Republican Governor's Association, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who has railed against the bailout effort, staying true to his ideological belief in fiscal conservatism. This backfired, however, when he was forced to end his opposition to federal money for state unemployment services. The point is, it's a lot easier to be ideologically opposed to something when people aren't suffering and in desperate need of help. The Big Picture will be talking about this subject in the coming days.
VOCAB V: Today's term is President Pro Tempore. The Vice President is technically the President of the Senate, but his only role is to swear in new members and to break ties. In reality, he rarely shows up to the chamber. The consitution mandates that the Senate choose a President Pro Tempore, who will preside over the chamber in case the Vice President is absent or is currently acting as President. What most people don't know is that the President Pro Tempore himself rarely presides over the Senate. Over the years, the role has become largely ceremonial and is traditionally given to the most senior member of the majority party (currently 92 year old Robert Byrd of West Virginia). The guy presiding over the Senate is usually a freshman or sophomore Senator of the majority party. This allows new Senators to learn the rules of the chamber. It also is a bit of a hazing excercise for new Senators, as they have to sit up there for hours while their colleagues can meet with lobbyists in the comfort of their own offices.
The issue with the modern President Pro Tempore, in my view, is that he is 3rd in line to the President behind the Vice President and Speaker of the House. So if Obama, Biden and Nancy Pelosi were to be in the same room when a bomb hit, a 92 year old, barely cognizant, former KKK member would be President of the United States.
See you tomorrow!
DASCHLE IN TROUBLE: Another one of Obama's appointees, HHS nominee Tom Daschle, is in trouble for not paying taxes on, most notably, a private limo and driver. The Senate Finance will be meeting on Monday to discuss if and how to proceed with his nomination. My guess is that he eventually will be confirmed because of his long experience in the Senate, but this is another embarrassment for Obama's team. Couldn't they have done a better job of vetting this stuff? I bet the Republicans make a stink out of this to try and get some more mileage from the "Democrats are Corrupt" storyline. It probably seems to them that they are onto something: Blago, Daschle, Geithner, Charlie Rangel. In the end, they won't have enough votes to block him.
GREGG UPDATE: A White House Spokesman said today that New Hampshire GOP Senator Judd Gregg is a top contender for the Commerce post, and an announcement could be coming as soon as Monday. The political shuffling that would take place to fill his Senate seat is still largely in question. Apparently Gregg is conditioning his acceptance on Democratic Governor John Lynch appointing a Republican. Nate Silver suggests Liz Hager, who has expressed interest in the seat. Hager is a former state Representative who endorsed Obama last year because of his pro-choice views. Yet, she still calls herself a Republican. You could bet that she'd be a pretty reliable vote for the Democrats, and could help Obama with his bipartisan bona fides.
REPUBLICAN RETREAT: Who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall at the House Republican retreat this weekend in Virginia? Speakers have included Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and polling guru Frank Luntz. The mood apparently is pretty upbeat, and the general consensus seems to be that the party is more united than ever in conservative principles of small taxes and limited government. Apparently there was a lot of bragging about the House GOP's unanimous rejection of the stimulus package. I don't understand the Republicans' thinking here. They are not exactly winning any popularity contests, and they are now bragging about stopping a popular President's signature initiative, when it is abundantly clear to the American public that Obama reached out to them repeatedly. New GOP Chairman Michael Steele gave a cameo appearance and spoke out against "wealth redistribution." If I were the Repbulican party, I wouldn't repeat slogans from a campaign that you lost pretty badly a couple of months ago. Steele's communications should help the GOP develop a new, innovative message, but they'll have to come up with some viable policy alternatives that don't always involve tax cuts.
OBAMA WEEKLY ADDRESS: Obama's address this week again focused (obviously) on the economy. He talked about the stimulus package, and how he will work with leaders of both parties to improve the bill. He also spoke about the culture of greed and corruption on Wall Street, and mentioned this week's revelation that recipients of federal bailout money were getting multi-million dollar bonuses. Obama's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to unveil a package of financial reforms in a week or so.
REPUBLICAN DIVIDE: There's an interesting piece on MSNBC's website about how GOP governors are breaking with their party members in Congress to push for passage of the stimulus. Ahead of the effort are Florida Governor Charlie Crist (who I think is a rising star in the Republican party) and Vermont Governor Jim Douglas. These governors are in charge of states who are facing massive budget shortfalls and significant job losses. It's a lot easier to be against a stimulus package when you are not directly managing a state. One governor not on the bandwagon is the chair of the Republican Governor's Association, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who has railed against the bailout effort, staying true to his ideological belief in fiscal conservatism. This backfired, however, when he was forced to end his opposition to federal money for state unemployment services. The point is, it's a lot easier to be ideologically opposed to something when people aren't suffering and in desperate need of help. The Big Picture will be talking about this subject in the coming days.
VOCAB V: Today's term is President Pro Tempore. The Vice President is technically the President of the Senate, but his only role is to swear in new members and to break ties. In reality, he rarely shows up to the chamber. The consitution mandates that the Senate choose a President Pro Tempore, who will preside over the chamber in case the Vice President is absent or is currently acting as President. What most people don't know is that the President Pro Tempore himself rarely presides over the Senate. Over the years, the role has become largely ceremonial and is traditionally given to the most senior member of the majority party (currently 92 year old Robert Byrd of West Virginia). The guy presiding over the Senate is usually a freshman or sophomore Senator of the majority party. This allows new Senators to learn the rules of the chamber. It also is a bit of a hazing excercise for new Senators, as they have to sit up there for hours while their colleagues can meet with lobbyists in the comfort of their own offices.
The issue with the modern President Pro Tempore, in my view, is that he is 3rd in line to the President behind the Vice President and Speaker of the House. So if Obama, Biden and Nancy Pelosi were to be in the same room when a bomb hit, a 92 year old, barely cognizant, former KKK member would be President of the United States.
See you tomorrow!
Friday, January 30, 2009
The Daily Strike-1/30/09-Steele, Vocab IV
Good Friday afternoon and welcome to the Daily Strike! No votes in Congress today, but some interesting stuff going on, starting with the election at the RNC:
RNC ELECTION: Michael Steele has been elected the next chairman of the Republican National Commiteee on the sixth ballot by a vote of 91-77 over Katon Dawson. Incumbent chairman Mike Duncan led the first two ballots, but dropped out after losing support on the third ballot. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell dropped out after the 4th ballot, and threw his support (and 15 votes, most likely) to Steele, in a somewhat surprising move, considering that Blackwell is considered far more conservative than Steele. Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis dropped out after round 3, leaving the final contest between Steele and South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson. This was quite the contrast for RNC members: a black, outsider from Maryland, or a white Southerner who used to belong to an all-white country club.
The Republicans made the absolute right choice in my view. Steele not only can help the Republican party overcome its stereotype as a regional, ethnocentric party, but also has proven to be media friendly(he's frequently on Fox News, and he argues the conservative agenda quite well). He even came reasonably close to winning a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 2006 during a Democratic wave. I predict that Steele will be an effective, reasonable voice of the Republican Party, far more so than any other of those candidates would have. If I were a Republican, I'd much rather have Steele's face out there than Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.
This, of course, will not even come close to solving the GOP's inherent problems with minority voters. Afterall, this is the party that has given us Justice Thomas, Rep. J.C. Watts, Condi Rice and Colin Powell, and they have maxed out at about 11% of the African American vote in Presidential Elections. File this election under the "could have been a lot worse" or "breathe a sigh of relief" category for national Republicans.
LABOR DAY: The biggest news out of the White House today was the creation a commission on middle class issues to be led by Vice President Joe Biden. The first meeting will take place next month in Philadelphia, and the task force will focus on creating jobs, especially in the green energy sector. Obama and Biden both took some shots at Bush during the morning Press Conference, with Biden saying to labor leaders, "it's nice to finally welcome you back to the White House." Obama also overturned three Bush executive orders:
-one which would require federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change
-one which would make it more difficult for federal contractors to discourage union activities.
-and the one I mentioned yesterday about discontinuing a policy that allows businesses to inform workers in union jobs that they are not required to join a union.
These are minor, but important steps in shifting the balance between business and labor. Labor didn't even have a place at the table when Bush was in office.
MORE ON GREGG: New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg confirmed today that he is in the running for Commerce Secretary. Democrats are clamoring at the idea of adding a new Democratic Senator, and Republicans (apparently) are urging Gregg to reject the offer. I read somewhere that the governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, is the type of guy who would appoint a Republican in Gregg's place to prove his bipartisan potential. Even if that were the case, New Hampshire's new Senator would certainly be a more reliable vote for Democrats than Judd Gregg, who is pretty much a down-the-line conservative. We'll see what happens with this. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will be making a decision "soon," whatever that means.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: Obama will spend this weekend at a couple of social events. One is the annual Alfalfa Dinner in DC, and Sarah Palin will be there. That should be interesting. He's also apparently going to be watching the Super Bowl with a bipartisan delegation from Congress.
On Monday, the Senate takes up the nomination of Eric Holder. More on that on Monday in the Weekly Strike. The Senate will then consider its version of the stimulus bill. The House will most likely work on finalizing a budget that lasts until September of this year.
VOCAB IV: Today's term is "Quorum Call" (the Senate version). When watching CSPAN2, you'll frequently see that the Senate is in a quorum call, and there will be some classical music playing in the background. A quorum call is ordered, technically, to take attendance and establish a quorum. However, in practice, it is used to temporarily delay proceedings when no Senator wishes to speak. Thus, the Senate almost always goes into a quorum call if there is a long break between speeches. When a Senator sees that no one else on the floor wishes to speak, he will say "I wish to note the absence of a quorum." The presiding officer will ask the clerk to call the roll. She usually only calls the first name on the sheet (poor Mr. Akaka) and the chamber is silent until someone wishes to speak. To end the quorum call, a Senator must say, " I ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be rescinded." Oftentimes Senators forget to say this and just start talking. This creates an awkward situation in which the presiding officer must remind the Senator that " we are in a quorum call."
One interesting note from someone whose been inside the Senate chamber, they don't ACTUALLY play classical music during quorum calls. It's deathly silent in there. The classical music is courtesy of CSPAN so we have something nice to listen to before the next Senator comes to the floor and wishes to speak.
Have a great weekend!
RNC ELECTION: Michael Steele has been elected the next chairman of the Republican National Commiteee on the sixth ballot by a vote of 91-77 over Katon Dawson. Incumbent chairman Mike Duncan led the first two ballots, but dropped out after losing support on the third ballot. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell dropped out after the 4th ballot, and threw his support (and 15 votes, most likely) to Steele, in a somewhat surprising move, considering that Blackwell is considered far more conservative than Steele. Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis dropped out after round 3, leaving the final contest between Steele and South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson. This was quite the contrast for RNC members: a black, outsider from Maryland, or a white Southerner who used to belong to an all-white country club.
The Republicans made the absolute right choice in my view. Steele not only can help the Republican party overcome its stereotype as a regional, ethnocentric party, but also has proven to be media friendly(he's frequently on Fox News, and he argues the conservative agenda quite well). He even came reasonably close to winning a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 2006 during a Democratic wave. I predict that Steele will be an effective, reasonable voice of the Republican Party, far more so than any other of those candidates would have. If I were a Republican, I'd much rather have Steele's face out there than Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity.
This, of course, will not even come close to solving the GOP's inherent problems with minority voters. Afterall, this is the party that has given us Justice Thomas, Rep. J.C. Watts, Condi Rice and Colin Powell, and they have maxed out at about 11% of the African American vote in Presidential Elections. File this election under the "could have been a lot worse" or "breathe a sigh of relief" category for national Republicans.
LABOR DAY: The biggest news out of the White House today was the creation a commission on middle class issues to be led by Vice President Joe Biden. The first meeting will take place next month in Philadelphia, and the task force will focus on creating jobs, especially in the green energy sector. Obama and Biden both took some shots at Bush during the morning Press Conference, with Biden saying to labor leaders, "it's nice to finally welcome you back to the White House." Obama also overturned three Bush executive orders:
-one which would require federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change
-one which would make it more difficult for federal contractors to discourage union activities.
-and the one I mentioned yesterday about discontinuing a policy that allows businesses to inform workers in union jobs that they are not required to join a union.
These are minor, but important steps in shifting the balance between business and labor. Labor didn't even have a place at the table when Bush was in office.
MORE ON GREGG: New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg confirmed today that he is in the running for Commerce Secretary. Democrats are clamoring at the idea of adding a new Democratic Senator, and Republicans (apparently) are urging Gregg to reject the offer. I read somewhere that the governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, is the type of guy who would appoint a Republican in Gregg's place to prove his bipartisan potential. Even if that were the case, New Hampshire's new Senator would certainly be a more reliable vote for Democrats than Judd Gregg, who is pretty much a down-the-line conservative. We'll see what happens with this. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama will be making a decision "soon," whatever that means.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: Obama will spend this weekend at a couple of social events. One is the annual Alfalfa Dinner in DC, and Sarah Palin will be there. That should be interesting. He's also apparently going to be watching the Super Bowl with a bipartisan delegation from Congress.
On Monday, the Senate takes up the nomination of Eric Holder. More on that on Monday in the Weekly Strike. The Senate will then consider its version of the stimulus bill. The House will most likely work on finalizing a budget that lasts until September of this year.
VOCAB IV: Today's term is "Quorum Call" (the Senate version). When watching CSPAN2, you'll frequently see that the Senate is in a quorum call, and there will be some classical music playing in the background. A quorum call is ordered, technically, to take attendance and establish a quorum. However, in practice, it is used to temporarily delay proceedings when no Senator wishes to speak. Thus, the Senate almost always goes into a quorum call if there is a long break between speeches. When a Senator sees that no one else on the floor wishes to speak, he will say "I wish to note the absence of a quorum." The presiding officer will ask the clerk to call the roll. She usually only calls the first name on the sheet (poor Mr. Akaka) and the chamber is silent until someone wishes to speak. To end the quorum call, a Senator must say, " I ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be rescinded." Oftentimes Senators forget to say this and just start talking. This creates an awkward situation in which the presiding officer must remind the Senator that " we are in a quorum call."
One interesting note from someone whose been inside the Senate chamber, they don't ACTUALLY play classical music during quorum calls. It's deathly silent in there. The classical music is courtesy of CSPAN so we have something nice to listen to before the next Senator comes to the floor and wishes to speak.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Daily Strike-1/29/09-Republican Amendments Fall Like Dominoes
Good Thursday evening. A busy day in the Senate with the State Children's Health Insurance Bill, mostly in the mode of failed Republican Amendments.
SCHIP PASSED: In a huge legislative victory for the Democrats, a strong bipartisan majority in the Senate passed the SCHIP bill 66-32. All Democrats voted for the bill, along with the following Republicans:
Alexander (TN) I'm pretty shocked about this, but he has a bit of a moderate streak
Collins (ME)
Corker (TN) There must be a lot of poor children in Tennessee who need health care.
Hutchison (TX) This is another yes vote for Hutchison, who also voted for final passage of the Ledbetter bill. She's positioning herself to run for Governor of Texas, and may want to moderate her views somewhat for an electorate that actually still is majority Democratic.
Lugar (IN)
Martinez (FL) He's retiring, so he probably feels like there's no point in listening to his leadership.
Murkowski (AK)
Snowe (ME)
Specter (PA)
Looks like there are still Republicans in the Senate who are willing to break ranks. This may not be as controversial as say, the union card check legislation, but Obama and the Democrats should be encouraged that they got this many GOP votes, considering what happened yesterday in the House.
The final vote followed the rejection of several more Republican amendments, all of which followed yesterday's pattern of trying to scale down the program and narrow its scope to the poorest children. The failed amendments:
-A Coburn (OK) amendment to encourage parents not to take their children off of private insurance. It failed 62-36.
-A Bunning amendment that would have barred the states of New Jersey and New York from receiving federal matching funding because they have opted to cover children up to 300 percent of the national poverty line. (This of course, is highly misleading, because New York and New Jersey's poverty line is much higher than the national average, and even the Bush administration allowed them to cover children of higher income parents). Failed 54-44. Some surprising "Yes" votes from Democrats: Carper of Delaware (has some moderate tendencies now and then), Kohl of Wisconsin (ditto) and Nelson of Nebraska (not surprising in his case). All Republicans voted Yes.
-A Hatch amendment that was an abortion question in disguise. It would have said that unborn children deserve the same health assistance as born children. Thankfully for pro-choice advocates, the amendment failed 59-39. All Democrats voted No besides Nelson of Nebraska and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who is strictly pro-life (oddly enough he is 100% liberal on everything else). Pro-choice Republicans Collins, Murkowski, Specter and Snowe voted no.
-A DeMint amendment that would have provided a tax credit to certain children equal in amount to money provided for children of legal immigrants. This failed 58-40 with Bayh (IN), Nelson (NE) and Jim Webb of Virginia voting with the Republicans. (in the past, all of these Senators have been against immigration reform, is there a connection here?)
-A Coburn alternative which would have shut down the SCHIP program overtime and replaced it with a private insurance program. Thankfully, considering the current state of the private market, this amendment failed 62-36.
-A Bingaman (finally a Democrat!!!) amendment seeking to auto-enroll children who are eligible for SCHIP, but never signed up. This passed 55-43 with surprise no votes from Boxer and Feinstein of California, and Webb and Warner of Virginia. I wonder if there's something about those states in relation to this amendment that we don't know about.
-A Hutchison amendment to provide assistance to states that have trouble enrolling people in the SCHIP program. This failed badly 81-17.
So basically, the Republicans held up Senate business for two days to offer a myriad of amendments which all failed by sizable margins. Not exactly the pathway back to the majority, in my view. The bill will now go into conference so that the House and Senate can reconcile their versions of the bill. Expect SCHIP and the Stimulus to emerge from Congress by the February break. These are big, big changes to policy in this country, and it could all come in the first month of Obama's presidency!
LEDBETTER SIGNING: The President signed his first bill today, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extends the statute of limitations on worker discrimination suits. He was surrounded by mostly female legislators including Speaker Pelosi, and Republican Senators Snowe and Collins from Maine. Ledbetter herself was in attendance, as was the First Lady. Michelle Obama made a speech AFTER the President had already left to get an economic briefing.
UNION DUES: The President tomorrow is expected to overturn Bush administration directives on labor relations. The only one known so far will be reversing a decision that forces unionized businesses to has a sign that says "You don't have to join a union." Obama will also announce the establishment of a task force on middle class issues led by Joe Biden (a good token role for the Vice President.)
It was a good day for labor though, as Obama blasted corporations for issuing huge bonuses to CEO's, calling them "outrageous."
GREGG???: There was a rumor going around that Obama may pick New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a pretty conservative Republican, to be Secretary of Commerce. The pick would be advantageous to Democrats, because Gregg's vacancy would allow the Democratic Governor, John Lynch, to make an appointment. With the expected victory of Al Franken, this would give the Democrats their coveted 60 filibuster-proof votes in the Senate. Two questions: would Gregg give up the Senate seat knowing that it would cost his party power to do anything in the Senate? Would Obama really pick someone this fiscally conservative as Secretary of Commerce? TBD.
BLAGO OUT: It happened today, Blago was convicted by the Illinois State Senate and thrown out of office. Does anyone else suddenly have some sympathy for Blagojevich? He's insane, but part of me has a soft spot for him. Anyway, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn takes over.
LIBERAL PRESSURE: The liberals are stepping up the pressure on GOP lawmakers, especially moderate Senators from blue states. A variety of interest groups are beginning to run ads urging passage of the Obama plan. One group, Americans United for Change, is running ads asking "which side are you on? Obama's or Limbaugh's?" That seems like a good way of framing things for Democrats. I think these ads could be helpful in starting to put pressure of GOP members in more liberal areas. My thought though, is that Obama himself is enormously popular, far more so than any liberal interest group. Why should he have them do the dirty work? He should do it himself!
GOP CHAIR VOTE: Stay tuned for tomorrow's vote on the next chairman of the Republican National Committee. The candidates:
-Saul Anuzis (an RNC member from Michigan who has emphasized the need for Republicans to appeal to moderates in the midwest)
-Kenneth Blackwell (the African American former Secretary of State of Ohio, beloved by social conservatives)
-Mike Duncan (the incumbent)
-Michael Steele (the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, also an African American)
-Katon Dawson (the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party)
I'd say the state of the race is a tossup. My guess is that members deem Steele "too moderate" for not opposing abortion in cases of rape (yeah, I think it's true) and vote for either Duncan, Dawson or Anuzis. The missing candidate? Chip Saltsman of Tennessee, the guy who sent the GOP the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro." He dropped out of the race today.
SCHIP PASSED: In a huge legislative victory for the Democrats, a strong bipartisan majority in the Senate passed the SCHIP bill 66-32. All Democrats voted for the bill, along with the following Republicans:
Alexander (TN) I'm pretty shocked about this, but he has a bit of a moderate streak
Collins (ME)
Corker (TN) There must be a lot of poor children in Tennessee who need health care.
Hutchison (TX) This is another yes vote for Hutchison, who also voted for final passage of the Ledbetter bill. She's positioning herself to run for Governor of Texas, and may want to moderate her views somewhat for an electorate that actually still is majority Democratic.
Lugar (IN)
Martinez (FL) He's retiring, so he probably feels like there's no point in listening to his leadership.
Murkowski (AK)
Snowe (ME)
Specter (PA)
Looks like there are still Republicans in the Senate who are willing to break ranks. This may not be as controversial as say, the union card check legislation, but Obama and the Democrats should be encouraged that they got this many GOP votes, considering what happened yesterday in the House.
The final vote followed the rejection of several more Republican amendments, all of which followed yesterday's pattern of trying to scale down the program and narrow its scope to the poorest children. The failed amendments:
-A Coburn (OK) amendment to encourage parents not to take their children off of private insurance. It failed 62-36.
-A Bunning amendment that would have barred the states of New Jersey and New York from receiving federal matching funding because they have opted to cover children up to 300 percent of the national poverty line. (This of course, is highly misleading, because New York and New Jersey's poverty line is much higher than the national average, and even the Bush administration allowed them to cover children of higher income parents). Failed 54-44. Some surprising "Yes" votes from Democrats: Carper of Delaware (has some moderate tendencies now and then), Kohl of Wisconsin (ditto) and Nelson of Nebraska (not surprising in his case). All Republicans voted Yes.
-A Hatch amendment that was an abortion question in disguise. It would have said that unborn children deserve the same health assistance as born children. Thankfully for pro-choice advocates, the amendment failed 59-39. All Democrats voted No besides Nelson of Nebraska and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who is strictly pro-life (oddly enough he is 100% liberal on everything else). Pro-choice Republicans Collins, Murkowski, Specter and Snowe voted no.
-A DeMint amendment that would have provided a tax credit to certain children equal in amount to money provided for children of legal immigrants. This failed 58-40 with Bayh (IN), Nelson (NE) and Jim Webb of Virginia voting with the Republicans. (in the past, all of these Senators have been against immigration reform, is there a connection here?)
-A Coburn alternative which would have shut down the SCHIP program overtime and replaced it with a private insurance program. Thankfully, considering the current state of the private market, this amendment failed 62-36.
-A Bingaman (finally a Democrat!!!) amendment seeking to auto-enroll children who are eligible for SCHIP, but never signed up. This passed 55-43 with surprise no votes from Boxer and Feinstein of California, and Webb and Warner of Virginia. I wonder if there's something about those states in relation to this amendment that we don't know about.
-A Hutchison amendment to provide assistance to states that have trouble enrolling people in the SCHIP program. This failed badly 81-17.
So basically, the Republicans held up Senate business for two days to offer a myriad of amendments which all failed by sizable margins. Not exactly the pathway back to the majority, in my view. The bill will now go into conference so that the House and Senate can reconcile their versions of the bill. Expect SCHIP and the Stimulus to emerge from Congress by the February break. These are big, big changes to policy in this country, and it could all come in the first month of Obama's presidency!
LEDBETTER SIGNING: The President signed his first bill today, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extends the statute of limitations on worker discrimination suits. He was surrounded by mostly female legislators including Speaker Pelosi, and Republican Senators Snowe and Collins from Maine. Ledbetter herself was in attendance, as was the First Lady. Michelle Obama made a speech AFTER the President had already left to get an economic briefing.
UNION DUES: The President tomorrow is expected to overturn Bush administration directives on labor relations. The only one known so far will be reversing a decision that forces unionized businesses to has a sign that says "You don't have to join a union." Obama will also announce the establishment of a task force on middle class issues led by Joe Biden (a good token role for the Vice President.)
It was a good day for labor though, as Obama blasted corporations for issuing huge bonuses to CEO's, calling them "outrageous."
GREGG???: There was a rumor going around that Obama may pick New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a pretty conservative Republican, to be Secretary of Commerce. The pick would be advantageous to Democrats, because Gregg's vacancy would allow the Democratic Governor, John Lynch, to make an appointment. With the expected victory of Al Franken, this would give the Democrats their coveted 60 filibuster-proof votes in the Senate. Two questions: would Gregg give up the Senate seat knowing that it would cost his party power to do anything in the Senate? Would Obama really pick someone this fiscally conservative as Secretary of Commerce? TBD.
BLAGO OUT: It happened today, Blago was convicted by the Illinois State Senate and thrown out of office. Does anyone else suddenly have some sympathy for Blagojevich? He's insane, but part of me has a soft spot for him. Anyway, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn takes over.
LIBERAL PRESSURE: The liberals are stepping up the pressure on GOP lawmakers, especially moderate Senators from blue states. A variety of interest groups are beginning to run ads urging passage of the Obama plan. One group, Americans United for Change, is running ads asking "which side are you on? Obama's or Limbaugh's?" That seems like a good way of framing things for Democrats. I think these ads could be helpful in starting to put pressure of GOP members in more liberal areas. My thought though, is that Obama himself is enormously popular, far more so than any liberal interest group. Why should he have them do the dirty work? He should do it himself!
GOP CHAIR VOTE: Stay tuned for tomorrow's vote on the next chairman of the Republican National Committee. The candidates:
-Saul Anuzis (an RNC member from Michigan who has emphasized the need for Republicans to appeal to moderates in the midwest)
-Kenneth Blackwell (the African American former Secretary of State of Ohio, beloved by social conservatives)
-Mike Duncan (the incumbent)
-Michael Steele (the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, also an African American)
-Katon Dawson (the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party)
I'd say the state of the race is a tossup. My guess is that members deem Steele "too moderate" for not opposing abortion in cases of rape (yeah, I think it's true) and vote for either Duncan, Dawson or Anuzis. The missing candidate? Chip Saltsman of Tennessee, the guy who sent the GOP the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro." He dropped out of the race today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
