Senate-Passed Recovery Bill Would Create Jobs; Republicans Bent on Killing It
The Senate this afternoon approved (61-37) an $838 billion economic recovery package that reflects much of what President Obama sought in legislation to get the nation’s economy moving again. But it eliminates more than $40 billion in aid to fiscally strapped states and other job-creating provisions that are part of the House-passed version of the bill.
The Senate bill is somewhat of a compromise to win the votes of three moderate Republicans—Arlen Specter (Penn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine)—and prevent a filibuster by Republican leaders. The filibuster threat was turned back last night.
The bill now goes to a House-Senate conference, where House leaders say they will attempt to focus on restoring the jobs provisions, while maintaining 61-vote filibuster-proof support in the Senate.
Even McCain’s Economist Says We Need Big Recovery Package
The economy is rolling faster and faster downhill—more 1.5 million jobs lost in the past three months—and Republican leaders in the Senate and House, along with their wacko radio talkers, are trashing President Obama’s economic recovery program.
But if action isn’t quickly taken, even darker days are ahead. Says Mark Zandi, a former economic adviser to Sen. John McCain:
Without stimulus, unemployment will rise well into the double digits, and the economy will not return to full employment until 2014.
Tomorrow, some 500 members of the community activist group ACORN, along with AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, will rally at 2:30 p.m. on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to urge Congress to quickly pass the recovery legislation.
