Showing posts with label senate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label senate. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Porkulus Rumbles On


In once sense, the Obama administration and the current liberal Democrat power pyramid should be commended at least for being consistent.

They believe in big government and big spending in matters social and economic -- and are giving it to us in spades. (President G.W. Bush gets the non-coveted Blynken Raspberry award for going against his party's small government principles by giving us TARP in the first place.)

Only the gargantuan proportions of the trillions of dollars spent by the recently passed TARP and ARRA so-called stimulus bills could make the Senate giving final approval to a $410 billion spending bill to fund most of the federal government for the remainder of the year look small.

Visualize trillions of dollars here for some perspective.
  • President Obama said that "At this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life."
  • Secretary of State Clinton stated: "Never waste a good crisis ... Don't waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security."
  • Barack Obama’s health care plan follows the Democratic template—an emphasis on dramatically and quickly increasing the number of people who have health insurance by spending significant money upfront.
  • Obama rescinds conscience rule, funds ESCR and overseas abortions.
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she is open to introducing a second stimulus bill, but it's too early to determine the size of such a package and the timing on another major economic measure.
  • A Virginia Senator Jim Webb email states "This economic recovery package is designed to swiftly drive money into our struggling economy. While this legislation is an important step, other measures must be adopted to restore the health of our economy. These include appropriate reforms of our banking and financial systems, tax fairness, and measures to place the nation on a long-term path to fiscal responsibility. "
  • Virginia Senator Mark Warner's email states "The Recovery and Reinvestment Act is but one component of a three-part plan to restore our economy. We still have important work to do to address the foreclosure crisis and shore-up the real estate market and we also must take steps to repair our banking system."
The hits just keep on coming -- and it's only been 50 days.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Quid Pro Quo?

I know this kind of deal making goes on all the time in Washington, but when a sitting Senator gets elevated to the next highest office and there are strings on his vacant seat how is this not shades of the whole Blago fiasco?

Because what we have here is a quid pro quo. I will give you (or do) this for that.

What I'm talking about is the impending decision of Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire to accept the position of commerce secretary in President Obama's Cabinet. Senator Gregg is a Republican, the Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, is a Democrat. Ergo, it follows that the person appointed to fill his seat would be a Democrat, giving the party the magic filibuster-proof number of 60 in the Senate. However, sources from both parties say that Lynch has given assurances that he will name a Republican and so leave the Senate balance unchanged.
But state political sources from both parties said Monday that Lynch will name Gregg's former chief of staff, Bonnie Newman, to replace him.

In a statement issued earlier Monday, Lynch said Gregg had told him he would not give up his seat "if it changed the balance in the Senate."
Just because it is being brokered at the highest levels and with the finesse and tact that Blagojevich so desperately lacked, doesn't mean that the essence of the thing has changed. Instead of trading for personal wealth and cash, the trade is for maintaining the balance of power in the Senate. Instead of a two way trade, we have a three way trade: Obama gets his commerce pick, Gregg gets the title, and the Republicans keep their bare hold on the filibuster.

If you ask me, it still stinks like three day old fish.

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