The GOP filibuster failed to materialize after 5 brave Republicans cast procedural votes in favor of the Democratic jobs bill. Newly elected Scott Brown on Massachusetts led the charge and 4 other Republicans followed his lead: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.). Sen. Bond is retiring.
The Democrats ended up with 62 votes, 2 more than needed to avoid filibuster. according to Huffington Post:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) thanked the newly-elected Republican from Massachusetts. “I hope this is the beginning of a new day here in the Senate. Whether this new day was created by the new Senator from Massachusetts or some other reason, I’m very, very happy that we were able to get this done. But there are some winners. Not any individual Senator, not Democrats or Republicans. The winners are small business people throughout this country.”
Senator Voinovich spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make certain a surface transportation reauthorization bill was brought to the floor this year. Reid Agreed. The Republican senators didn’t seen to be too worried about what the minority leadership said or thought.
Voinovich, who was patted on the back by a grateful Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) after the vote, said that he could see himself working jointly with Brown and Democrats for the remainder of the term.
“I think he and I are going to do a lot of music together,” said Voinovich. “My vote was reflective of what I thought made sense.”
Voinovich didn’t stick around for any loyalty lectures after his vote. “I have no idea,” said Voinovich when asked what leadership thought of his vote. “I voted and took off.”
Brown also said that he had “no idea” how the rest of his colleagues would vote. But it was good enough for him. “It’s not a perfect bill. I would have liked broader and deeper tax cuts, but I was comfortable with that first vote,” said Brown.
Of the 41 Republicans, 29 opposed the measure, while six skipped the vote. More Republicans skipped the vote than voted in favor.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), meanwhile, muddled the message of Democratic unity behind the jobs bill. He voted against it.
Those who did the happy dance over the election of Scott Brown the other week are probably scratching their heads wondering what happened. It looks like the Republicans have themselves another. ‘maverick’.’ So what will the minority party do about its new kid in town? He obviously isn’t going to behave himself.
Senator Reid played a little hard ball when he made a direct challenge:
“So to my Republican colleagues, here is your chance. Show us you’re serious about legislating. Show our constituents you’re serious about leading. Show the skeptics that you know putting people back to work is far more important than putting points up on the political scoreboard.”
Putting Americans back to work is far more important than partisan politics. Good for Scott Brown.
Job bill looks a little more likely but it can’t become bloated with Republican tax breaks for the rich again , Harry Reid was right stripping the majority of the bill.
Don’t forget to tell your senators what you want them to do!
Even though this bill won’t do anything to help the unemployment situation, I had heard the Republicans weren’t going to stand in it’s way, and I agreed with that. Every once in a while you have to let the kids have a lollipop.
This jobs bill will surely be just as successful as the stimulus was in keeping the unemployment rate below 8%. If spending a lot of money did not work the first time, it makes good sense to spend money a second time and hope for a different result. As credit rates and inflation creep up and as the U.S. continues to coddle Iran, I am sure that Jimmy Carter, I mean Obama, will find some way to get the country on the right track. Perhaps taxing businesses and investors to support a $1-trillion, government-run healthcare system will be just the right medicine to get the economy going ….
Reid is ecstatic that he now has cover for more redundant and useless spending. The first “stimulus” bill was passed citing an emergency of such magnitude that we had to pass the bill in record time. 2/3 of the money has not been spent and is being held until the 2010 election cycle starts. Some emergency.Why do we need to spend more money that we DO NOT HAVE? The Democrats even changed the name of this bill from a “stimulus” to a “jobs” bill hoping that the public has a short attention span. Of course the usual suspects voted for this bill because they are in liberal districts. Being the party of “NO” is the JOB of the opposition when the party in power is creating policy that is both useless and dangerous. Reid is being disingenuous. If the Democrats were serious about “legislating” they would have passed their own bills without waiting for GOP cover.
If Pelosi/Reid/Obama were serious about putting people back to work, they would stop these progressive shenanigans. The so-call stimulus that the current bill has done only props up government and union jobs. NO jobs have been created. Governor Granholme of Michigan is still using the canard of “saved” jobs when touting the conditions in Michigan. In fact, because she is touting jobs that HAVE NOT BEEN CREATED YET BY INDUSTRIES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN STARTED IN MICHIGAN YET, her numbers are twice what the government statistics show.
While I understand that liberals love the stimulus bills because the advance the cause of the Democrats and liberals by providing a slush fund, the bills to nothing in the way of creating jobs compared to simple measures of tax reduction and regulation reduction. No stimulus will make a business hire someone if they feel that that employee will be to expensive. Increased taxes to pay for 1.4 TRILLION in deficits will prevent that. Then add the uncertainty of the Cap and Tax bill that Obama still wants. And the increased expenses due to the EPA’s political move of calling a gas necessary for life, CO2, a pollutant. The government is calling for new powers to regulate businesses, all in the name of “saving us” from the evil corporations. Well, those corporations don’t have to do business in America nor hire Americans.
Those Senators can take the blame, along with the Democrats, of bankrupting this country. We have no more money. We have to put EVERYTHING on the table and prioritize our spending.
Good for Scott Brown. The man will be unbeatable if he keeps this up. By “this” I mean acting like a grown up and compromising.
Cargo,
What is your solution to create jobs? What is the purpose of government when there is an economic crisis? What in the bill, exactly, don’t you like, or is it that its a democrat majority so who cares what’s in the bill.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/31stimulus.html
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/fl-gov-charlie-crist-stimulus-did-create-jobs.html
Anyone have a link to the bill or know what’s in it? My guess is that it’s a spending bill with a lot of pork and nothing to really ‘fix’ anything. But, it provides the appearance of something ‘getting done’.
I would not like it if the Democrats did not work with the Republicans. I see it as a good thing. Cargo, I know that you would be crawling all over them if they nucleared the situation.
From Cargosquid:
Many of us like seeing bipartisan support for ideas. Input from both parties cannot hurt a bill. It ensures us that one ideology isn’t swallowing us up whole.
Did some quick reading up. I’m not opposed to the passage of this bill.
Seems like a very nice amount of tax cuts. Not as much as I’d like to see but enough that I’m not opposed.
Please post the link, Marinm. I want the bills for dummies version if you can find it. No senatorese in it either.
Marin, I agree, if you could leave a link, thanks.
I see several people saying nay but I don’t see the proof that it won’t work. Maybe its just me.
I *think* the bill is http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202010/021010%20HIREACT%20draft.pdf. No story really references it (as such) and remember before there was a bi-partisan larger bill that Reid killed in favor of this MUCH smaller bill – I believe to get something to pass by looking at some of the left leaning sites expressing joy that SOMETHING was passed but dismay that it wasn’t the much larger bi-partisan bill.
Part of the larger bipartisan bill that got killed:
This new bill doesn’t extend unemployment.
It doesn’t extend COBRA.
I *think* the teacher subsidy for purchase of classroom supplies got killed.
Same with higher education and local/state property tax exemptions.
Some other ‘minor’ tax benefits for the common man.
Parts still in but probably reduced from the old bill:
It provides a tax cut for employers that hire unemployed persons.
It provides an extension to past administration tax cuts that were set to expire.
Includes Build America bonds to support bonds for transportation related issues.
Still provides for capital deductions for small equipment purchases.. ~800K or less.
Interestingly they plan to use existing Social Security funds and more regulation on foreign entities and trusts to accomplish the funding of.
It could’ve been a LOT worse.. Looks like the Senate only took a 1 inch steel pipe to our rears rather than the 2 inch model. 🙂
had to piece the information from a few websites. WebCPA has a good article on it at http://www.webcpa.com/news/Senate-Advances-Jobs-Bill-53355-1.html and CCH has a very nice breakdown available at http://tax.cchgroup.com/Legislation/JobsBill02-22-10.pdf.
Enjoy.
Thanks for doing that Marin. I will try to read it soon. Thanks for pulling out the main features.
Marin, what does this mean? Why on earth is anyone touching social security funds? I am always opposed to any pilfering of those funds.
Welcome Bear. You make some good points about the jobs bill becoming bloated with tax breaks for the wealthy.
@Moon-howler
Hiring tax incentives — Exempts employers from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax this year on newly hired workers that have been unemployed for 60 days or more. Provides additional $1,000 tax credit for workers retained for at least a year. Cost: $13 billion.
In a $15B~ jobs bill $13B of it goes for this incentive. Because the employer is no longer paying it’s share of the 6.2 SS payroll tax that means for that year the govt ‘loses’ the revenue it would’ve gotten in for having hired that employee. So, it’s a ‘loss’ to the Social Security system that isn’t really made up – unless of course the employee dies. Then anything after year 1 was gravy (assuming no one ‘collects’).
The main reason I support this over the bipartisan $86B jobs bill is because on the whole this bill screws us less. Sure the other package had nice carveouts for companies, small business, teachers, etc. but THAT bill slammed the taxpayer even worse.
So, I would say that this bill was a good thing. The taxpayers got taken to the cleaners LESS on this one.
So, I stand with my friends here on the left and cheer for it’s passage! 🙂
Did you notice what Scott Brown added to his explanation? He wants to see much deeper tax cuts for small businesses and intends to pursue that idea in the Senate. It will be interesting to see if Reid and his fellow Democrats gave that to Brown in reciprocity or whether Brown will find out that this “bi-partisanship” is a one-way street.
This is a nice gem of a quote from the CBO:
Through its effects on wages, prices, and profits, the policy would add 8 to 18 cumulative years of full-time-equivalent employment in 2010 and 2011 per million dollars of total budgetary cost, measured in terms of lost revenues. Thus, the budgetary cost of increasing employment by one full-time person for one year would probably be between $56,000 and $125,000.
The bill is a drop in the bucket and will be forgotten pretty soon as ineffective. On the upside it doesn’t hurt TOO much so it gets a resounding ‘meh.’ from me.
But, dang. Look at those numbers. The govt is paying $56K-$125K for these phanton jobs to appear for 1 year. It won’t put a dent into current unemployment numbers but dang it sure does show that when republicans and democrats work together – they can spend big dollars.
Thanks for the explanation Marin. I had no idea what the implications were. There are two ways to look at this. If the person isn’t hired, they won'[t be paying in to the system either. If they are hired and SS is deferred for the first year, then it beats the person not having a job.
I guess it has to be.
Its hard to pay off a deficit and reduce taxes. I haven’t figured out how to do that. Its a lot easier to say it than to do it.
Great! Yet another 15 billion we don’t have!
@marinm
It’s more of a boondoggle for Oblamo’s big union buddies. But if the left wants a toy, and it’s not too expensive, get ’em the toy. That’s how I see it. Now they’ve seen some “bipartisan support”, it didn’t cost a cool trillion dollars, and Scott Brown got to have a little press. Government can create work, but only the private sector can create jobs. If a business needs another employee, they’ll hire another employee, but no business that intends to stay afloat will hire a $50,000/yr. employee for a $5000 tax credit. The demand has got to be there, and the only way Oblamo can generate that kind of demand is to resign effective immediately, and take Biden with him. Oh, Reid and Pelosi would have to go too. Untill that happens, businesses (especially the ones I get the chance to talk to) aren’t going to hire anyone because they’re scared to death of what Oblamo will do to them. I think Republicans need to pick their battles here. Don’t filibuster a little trinket for the Dems, but when it comes to major, destroy-the-economy stuff, there the Republicans have to stand strong.
Check it out, Oblamo’s gonna build a 1 billion dollar brand spankin’ new British Embassy. Budget troubles? What budget troubles! Bling-Bling, Dollar Dollar Bill Y’all!!
When you keep trashing everything and dooming and glooming, its no wonder people are afraid.
Whats this newBritish embassy and what does it have to do with President Obama?
@Moon-howler
Honestly, Moon, if people really knew what was going on, and really let it sink in, it would go way beyond fear. Sorry, I didn’t create the mess.
@Wolverine
You’re absolutely right Wolverine, “bi-partisanship” is a one-way street and just maybe Scott Brown has decided that being in the “party of no” isn’t worth trading for being a one term senator.
Slow, I have listened to the sky is falling my entire life. We have always survived.
We just have different world views. We worry over different things.
Scott Brown seems like an ok senator to me. Not too hot…not too cold. That’s the reason I was so amazed that the Tea Party liked him. Seems weird to me.
Great Bear, Bear. We have quite an assortment of animals around here. A regular menagerie.
I am waiting for Mr. Wolverine to show his animal side. (before Mrs. Wolverine hangs that pelt on the wall.)
You know, Bear, your idea of bipartisanship seems to differ a bit from mine. Let’s suppose that you come to me with a proposal. I don’t agree with the proposal. I’ve got three choices here: (1) kiss your hand and agree to go along with everything you want; (2) just say “no” and walk away; or (3) try to reason with you and come to some mutually beneficial and satisfactory agreement acceptable to both of us. The unfortunate thing I am seeing lately is that Reid, Pelosi, and company have all but eliminated Number 3, leaving me only with the first two choices. I certainly don’t like that Number 2 very much but, sure as shootin’, I am not going to be the kind of guy who kisses your hand if I have a fundamental difference of opinion with you. Sadly, when I refuse to fall for that game, I get called all kinds of nasty names…like “the party of no.” Go figure.
“Moon’s Menagerie” That’s a good one. You know, Moon, wolverines have a justified reputation for being mean, temperamental, vicious, and persistent. I’ve heard tales about how they would even follow you all the way home to get a vengeful nip out of your leg if they felt bothered enough by your interrruptive presence. Even the larger carnivores know to leave them alone. All this means, of course, that the University of Michigan better find another name for their football team — or do some better recruiting!
“Moon’s Menagerie”…I sure wish you had said those words 48 hours ago, Wolverine. I like the ring of that. U of Michigan…NOW I know what kind of wolverine I am dealing with.
I can’t recall how large they are. maybe about the size of a possom?
Wolverine, I have to ask. I am not an ideologue I don’t think so I get sort of lost. You consider yourself a conservative, I know. So beyond that…do you call yourself a Republican, a Tea Party Person, or what? I am a great believer in this basic principle that people are who or what they declare themselves to be. No second guessing here. Just trying to sort it all out. Cargo seemed to be disavowing the GOP either today or yesterday.
I have a hard enough time knowing what I am, much less what anyone else is.
I think I’m starting to like Scott Brown perhaps their IS hope.
Anyone who votes their convictions rather than the party line, either side of the aisle, is worth taking a look at.
Hope of what, borrowing even MORE money from China? WE ARE BROKE… China owns us, they even tell us who we can and can’t talk to now. Don’t believe me, just ask the Dalai Lama who had to exit the back door of the White House, passed piles of trash, because China was mad he was even there.
What disrespect for a religious leader, all because our our new owners don’t want us talking to him. What have we become when we take orders from China?
But your right… lets borrow BILLIONS more from them! What would go wrong huh?
perhaps their IS hope? you kidding me?
http://hillbuzz.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/white-house-map-room-to-microphones.jpg
Do you believe everything you read on blogs?
BWAAAAAAAjhahahahah
How are things over in Hoodbridge?
Things are going okay over here in Hoodbridge Moon, thanks for asking. 🙂
Nobody has been murdered behind one of the day labor sites (7-11) in some time now. Maybe because of the snow…
So you don’t think our treatment of the Dalai Lama has anything to do with China owning us? Aww, that’s so cute!
Off topic Moon but I was just curious what you thought about using the nuclear option for Obamacare?
Nah….. If we don’t cower with the middle east personalities, we wouldn’t over the DL.
Which Obama care? Senate? House? Presidential?
Presidential is just suggestions so that can’t be nucleared. I don’t know what’s in the senate one to know even how I feel about it.
So how about a resounding I don’t know!!
Moon, you just asked the eternal question: “Who am I?” I am conservative on most domestic issues and pro-active on most foreign policy issues. Throw into that a huge swath of compassion for the underdogs and the misfortunate, with an important element of teaching a man to fish rather than just giving him the fish to eat. Never, ever been registered with any party, and, except for a brief period in my mid-teens (those “good old days”), have never been involved in any way in party politics (the Hatch Act will do that to you). I grew up in a U.A.W. family but with a father who was conservative and religious and who was not very happy that the union only supported Democratic candidates. He was a conservative fish in a liberal pond, yet he taught me one of the lessons of my life. It was my father who took a major step necessary to break the color housing line in my town when all his liberal collegues shirked from that task. He was just a factory worker but he taught me the great lesson of operating from a position of principle and not fearing the consequences — which he did suffer personally for his actions. And, when I had grown a bit older and began to make noises myself about the one-way political slant of the union, it was he who brought me up short by making me understand that this same union was playing a great role in helping me to get an education. Lesson learned? Fathers can be a most critical part of any child’s life.
I came of age in Washington when JFK was in the White House. I, a student of foreign affairs, had not been a political supporter of JFK but I did come to like his style and his dash, as well as his demonstrated ability to learn from his mistakes, e.g. from the aborted invasion of Cuba to the Cuban missile crisis. JFK also taught me a lesson of sorts. I was one of those who stood at the fence of the Whte House that night when all the lights were ablaze and the nation was waiting to see if those Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba would turn back or encounter the waiting U.S. Navy. That impressed upon me the terrible weight which lies on the shoulders of the person in the Oval House. Since that time, I worked in a sense for every president up through Clinton and have had several occasions to sit near the phone line between the White House and a security agency while the man in the Oval Office was trying to make a final and lonely decision with the potential for rocking our world. For those reasons I do not like to hear or to participate in denigration or name-calling aimed at a president, whether it is a George Bush or a Barrack Obama. I’ve been just close enough to feel the agony and the power of that office; and, although I will not hestitate to criticize policy, I find it almost impossible to be nasty about it — although I may indulge in an occasional humorous tweek of the nose.
As a young man, I was in Washington at a time when there were acknowledged great men in both parties who had a real knack for opposing each other but also for compromising when the time came for it. I had a part-time job as an escort for VIP vistors under the aegis of the Department of State — a job which gave me an opportunity to meet and talk with some of these men. The one who really sticks in my mind is the late Justice William O. Douglas. I took a visitor to see him. I knew full well what philosophy often colored the man’s decisions on the Court. But I also saw a side of him I never knew about. Here I was, just a fresh-faced college kid cum escort, sitting in the background while two important personalities talked. Suddenly Douglas signaled to me to move my chair forward and started to include me in the conversation as if I was just as important as the two holding the meeting. Another lesson: how to deal with people and boost their self-esteem.
JFK inspired me to join the Peace Corps. That was also a lesson, for I was submersed totally in a foreign culture and a foreign religion. In fact, most of the time, I was all by myself as the solitary odd man out in that place. The lesson from that? Race and religion do not matter. Also the profound psychological effect our own country has on people far away. I found in that place a love and admiration for Martin Luther King and for JFK himself that would have put Americans to shame. When JFK was killed, those people around me wept. And those people lived in the deep bush with no magazines or newspapers and no television — just sporadic SW radio links to the rest of the world.
The rest of my life I cannot explain in detail for reasons which you might guess. But the lesson which came out of that life was that the thing which matters most to me is the safety and security of this country and the people who constitute it, regardless of race, creed, politics, or anything else. For that reason, I will criticize the actions and policies of any politician or any group if I am convinced that they may be doing things which are detrimental to the goal of keeping us safe. Over the past decade or so, I’ve been angry at Clinton, I’ve been angry at George W. Bush, and I’ve been angry at Barrack Obama. I’m an equal-opportunity get angry guy. You do good, and I will say so. You do badly in my opinion, and I will also say so. I guess that makes me a conservative independent. What I do in the polling booth is mine to know. But I can relate to you one incident. There was a time when a presidential candidate was tarring his opponent with being a potential war monger who might even set off a nuclear holocaust. The public bought into that, and so did I. A year later I was in a military uniform and a year after that in Vietnam, sent there by the “peace” candidate. Lesson learned? Don’t buy a book because it has a nice cover.
Wolverine, great read, as usual. I can always count on you to be fair, entertaining, and making your readers wanting to know more. Thank you for sharing. If everyone were like you, we could iron all this mess out. We might disagree but we would do so ever so agreeably and in the end, do what was best for the country.
I am trying to narrow down the presidential candidate, soon to be president. Had to be Johnson or Tricky Dick, who fooled me. I was too young to relinquish my brain to Johnson.
oops, did that wrong…
LBJ
Wolverine, I couldn’t vote then so I don’t remember too much about that race outside of the race issues…even then, I don’t remember much. You know kids…….
Hell-Boy…finish to the bottom of the article. You will feel a little better.
Do you really think they didn’t know the Dali Lama was here?