Senate stands in way of rebates

Snowe and Collins

The House of Representatives and the White House cooperated to push through a timely bill to rush tax refunds to Americans and soften the economy’s downturn. But the bloated and bloviating Senate stands in the way of Americans getting their money (Washington Post link);

Shrugging off a personal plea from President Bush, senators from both parties said yesterday that they will push for significant additions to the $150 billion stimulus package hammered out Thursday by House leaders and the administration.

Bush, appearing at a retreat for House Republicans in West Virginia, warned Congress not to load the deal with spending projects or delay sending it to his desk for a signature. Although it may not be everything Republicans want, he said, the package of payments to workers and incentives for business investment puts money in the hands of everyday Americans and does not raise taxes.

“Congress should move it quickly,” Bush told the lawmakers. “I understand the desire to add provisions from both the right and the left. I strongly believe it would be a mistake to delay or derail this bill.”

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), one of the deal’s chief negotiators, put a partisan slant on that warning, cautioning: “It would be irresponsible for Senate Democrats to load this bill up with pork and other spending. Families and small businesses need help now, and this agreement shouldn’t be derailed because of partisan politics.”

But there is nothing partisan about the opposition developing ahead of next week’s meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, which will draft its own economic stimulus bill. Republicans and Democrats alike said the administration does not have the right to force a plan on senators who had no say on its details.

“I was very pleased with the progress the House made in working out the agreement, but the Senate is a separate entity, and the White House needs to engage in negotiations with the Senate, as well,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Now, I don’t know what Washington Post is trying to say, but quoting Susan Collins as the Republican holding up the Senate is kind of far-fetched. Collins hasn’t voted with Republicans in decades.

In Washington, however, senators were busy drawing up lists of potentially costly additions to the package. Collins said a bipartisan coalition of Northeastern and Midwestern senators will push to secure as much as $800 million in heating assistance for the poor, a provision that House Democratic leaders dropped in favor of securing payments for about 35 million families who earn too little to pay income tax.

Collins said she will push to restore about $12.5 billion in unemployment benefits and $5 billion in food-stamp extensions that House negotiators also eliminated, a call echoed by her fellow Maine Republican, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, who vowed to add funds next week in the Finance Committee. Snowe will be joined by another Republican on the committee, Sen. Gordon Smith (Ore.).

Nevermind that the bill is already a bi-partisan cooperation between the House and the Administration, the Senate, pompous arrogant spastic retards that they are, have to muck it all up with politics. Oh, and Olympia Snowe doesn’t count as a Republican, either. You might as well call these clowns Republicans, too;

Democratic Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.) called yesterday for hundreds of millions of dollars for mortgage counselors, while Republican Govs. Tim Pawlenty (Minn.), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Calif.) and Charlie Crist (Fla.) pushed for a temporary boost in the share of Medicaid financing assumed by the federal government.

So much for trying to save the economy with bi-partisan cooperation.

Category: Politics