Specter: Republicans Support Stimulus, Don't Want 'Fingerprints' On It

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama's stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.

"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"

Specter, along with centrist Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined with Democrats last week to move the stimulus bill forward. Specter said he doubted there would be any more Republican votes than those three Friday night.

"I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation," he said.

Specter was asked, How many of your colleagues?

"I think a sizable number," he said. "I think a good part of the caucus agrees with the person I quoted, but I wouldn't want to begin to speculate on numbers."

Being the 60th and deciding vote isn't easy for a centrist who will likely face a more conservative primary challenger and then a more liberal general election opponent.

"I'd feel less uncomfortable about being the sixty-first and even better about being the sixty-seventh, but I'll take 'em one at a time," he said.

Specter added that his hope was that next time there would be more Republicans joining within him. But is that realistic?

"I didn't say it was my expectation, it was my hope," said Specter, before walking on to the Senate floor.

UPDATE: Listen to the audio.

Comments

[XME]

Sadly, it really does seem that most Republicans are more concerned with the political implications of a vote than voting for what they think is best for their country.

Personally, I sent a lengthy email to to Snowe, Specter and Collins and thanked them for rising above the hateful behavior of most other Republicans to consider the Americans who are SUFFERING right now and who need help.

[Palemoon]

Just another example of "Party before Country". And to be fair, both sides do it to the point that it makes me sick to my stomach. To think that many troopers, and troopettes, fought and died and these politicians are abusing the system. They care more about their person interests, special interests and political party interests than anything else in this country. They can't be bothered to give one damn about the average person. Or voting on something that benefits the public at large. This stimulus package, it benefits big business. This bailout, only serves to enrich big business while at the same time rewarding failure.

You want stimulus and bailouts with real change? Put a typical soccer mom in charge of these banks. Running a household with kids, husband, working her own job and balancing not only all of that, along with balancing her life needs, but also balancing the checkbooks. Way harder than running a bank. I guess that's why Bankers and CEO's always hire other people to run their businesses. Imagine that.

[walsenberg]

yea, like a typical soccer mom like palin - omg NEVER!

[djthedj]

The typical soccer mom thinks Jesus rode dinosaurs and has no idea how our government works. We tried the typical frat boy, see how that worked?

[Palemoon]

GWB was no typical frat boy, he was a LOSER. Bush paid his way through college. At least the typical frat boys study now and then.

[RenoSage]

There you have it: the difference between the Hoovers and the FDRs.
Herbert Hoover did nothing but tax cuts for three years and unemployment kept getting worse.
Then in 1933 FDR was elected, and through his programs, the slide stopped and employment
increased.

However, because of the tax cuts in the current recovery bill less money is devoted to JOBS, and it
is probably not as effective as it could be.

Too bad the GOP is worrying more about the next primary than what is good for America.

[Maxwell A Smart]

Why do you suppose most of the "stimulus" is set to hit right before the next election?

[MM216]

Well, do you have 700+ billion dollars ready to throw around tomorrow, Smart-one?

[patricksmom]

Too bad you weren't elected President. I guess you won't give us your brilliant ideas until you are. Too bad for us.

[HopeWon2008]

that's the reason for term limits. Everyone in congress is concerned about re-election then doing what's right for the country. In the early days of this repbulic, congressmen went to wasthington did their business then went back to their farms. Now it's a full time job for them. they should be limited to the same limits as the president and most governors. We need new and fresh ideas in Washington.

[mimigrammy]

NO TO TERM LIMITS. Yes to citizens voting these opportunistic bottom feeders out of office when they know they are behaving as Sen. Specter says they are. If the media would be more responsible in their reporting as to expose these idiots for who they really are, their terms would be limited by defeat at the ballot box.

[Palemoon]

How do you explain why no Republican ran against GW Bush in 2004? Was it pure luck that nobody decided to run against him? Pure coincidence? LOLOL!!

[lovetheusa13]

This is not the change I voted for. He said transparency and no one gets to read the stimulas bill. He said no lobbiest in his admin and we have lobbiest. He lied two days saying the ceo of a company would hire back people being laid off and the ceo said that wasnt true and there would be more lay off's. No he is killing innocent people with bombs. I made a big MISTAKE. I would start saying Impeach but Biden scares me more.

[FR]

PLANT, posting the same all over various threads.

[lovetheusa13]

A "plant" that speaks facts. Keep your head in the sand coming up for kool aid every once in a while.

[judithod]

Agree, lovetheusa13--all your points are right on! Obama's ethics appear to be more than a little muddled.

[1liberalconspirator]

Nope.

[patricksmom]

Obama's ethics are real and light years ahead of George Bush's. Plus he was left with a heck of a mess to clean up.

[MadeinAmericaProud]

The other selections on the republican side to include ron paul (crazy sounding man from Texas) cannot after all these weeks have the b@lls to get with the MSM and provide total detail just how much better their stimulus plan is.

Therefore, the only mistake that is hugh is you taking your time to tell your thoughts on this website thinking people would care. I have the b@alls to say I don't care what scares you either.

I many years did you serve this country in military uniform if you lovetheusa ?

Apparently ZERO. You have implied the President is killing people. Please remember he is the 44th
President. Do you know how many wars the USA have been involved in. Whenever, you take the time to look it up, try not to far over in your chair of the lost of life the other 43 Presidents have been involved in.

[tjirish44]

Noise.....­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­.Static...­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­..........­... You have something intelligent to say? Or are you just going to write what they told you to write? Geeshh get a brain and learn how to think!

[lovetheusa13]

Do you really think people are stupid and can't see this for themselves? I mean, how are you so blind you justify this in your "changed" attitude?

[postman606]

You must be very young. You actually believe all campaign promises and actually believe you can impeach a President on that basis. Girl, they would have impeached every President there ever was if that were the bar.

[movecenter]

I'm proud of our PA senator. He will definitely get my vote when he's up for reelection.

It would have been interesting to see how fast Repubs would have voted if the rule was that states only got Stimulus funds if the majority of their House and Senate officials voted for it. I bet they would have gotten off their high horses then!

[thebatgirl]

well, he is a man of courage, brovo to the three of them.

[MsIrisMG]

Arlen Spector is an old-school Republican, not the vitriolic Newt Gingrich-style trolls we have in Congress now. When I think how close we came to a McCain/Palin ticket, I truly shudder. I hope the democratic citizenry of the states these people represent give them notice for their vote.

[tjirish44]

You make a good point. These Republicans who are soo afraid of Rush etc.... They all came into office in 94. GOP's who were in office before 94 older and retiring or retired. 94 GOPS get more seniority and control. But 94 that was the beginning. Bush Jr. was brought in to try and put a friendly face on the 94 GOP ideology. This stimulus bill is not all pork. Alot of money that will be seen in use. These seats GOP have are mostly in protected districts. So the threat is from primarys. I guess GOP figures if they vote yes they will be in a primary fight. But if they vote no and stimulus works. Won't they be in a primary fight? Guess they are hedging voting yes is worse. But it's politics and this country doesn't need to be playing politics right now. So score one for Obama.

[JShep]

Many reknowned economists are not sure whether the stimulus package as passed will work or not. Guess most of the bloggers know a lot more than the professional ecomnomists. Hope for all our sakes it works. However, with all the unknowns, it seems a little early to diss the republicans.

[GunnyJ]

So then its fine for them to say NO so if it doesn't work they can say I told you so? If it does work I guess we get to say kiss my ass at the polls...right?

[tjirish44]

I disagree. The economists are not saying it won't work. They are of differing opinions how much it will help. My goodness it's almost $800 Billion dollars. The states aren't taking that money and stuffing it into a savings depost or spending it all on pork projects that don't help. People mock the tax cut. Well that tax cut is $56 a month. That pays my directv bill. I will take it. The GOP and critics have muddled this stimulus bill soo much that people have lost perspective in how much money this bill is. States are gonna get billions to use in building/upgrading infrastructure, for education etc... As for cost I got that figured out though no one wants say it right now. GAS TAX! Remember it. Economy gets outta recession. To encourage development of alt energy and get us off foreign oil. A gas tax will be used to pay all this debt off. You don't like that? Conserve fuel or buy hybrids and electric cars.... That's the whole point of gas tax.

[1liberalconspirator]

Exactly, many are saying that the Republican obstruction will make it necessary to pass additional bills in the near future.

[michaelsmolder]

You're right, a 5 or 10 cent Gas Tax would only HELP. I wouldn't want any Tax on Diesle. But then I've been preaching this for years.

[patricksmom]

If it doesn't work as well as hoped we can thank the Republicans who cut out parts that Obama wanted for more tax cuts.

[talyn530]

It's not they we, as bloggers, know more than the many so called "renowned" economists on this issue. It's that we bloggers, as observers with a stake in the outcome, can see that to do nothing is not an option.

[Boboday555]

The Republicans are in quite a pickle aren't they?
The last 8 disastrous years have once again shown that Trickle Down economics does not work...unless you’re hyper-wealthy of course.
It didn't work under Reagan, who tripled the national debt and handed a nasty recession to the non-AWOL Coward Bush; which is why, when the first Bush promised his robot followers that there would be "No New Taxes", he was forced to initiate the single largest tax increase in U.S. History.
And we all know that Trickle Down Economics didn't work on President Cheney's watch either.
Not even when Phil Graham removed the regulations that made Credit Default Swaps illegal since the Great Depression.
Cutting Taxes (during a time when our nation was waging war in both Afghanistan and Iraq mind you) for the richest 2% of Americans didn't create jobs, it didn't stimulate the economy and it didn't lower our national debt despite the endless promises coming from President Cheney’s administration.
Republicans removing Wall-Street regulations did nothing but allow neo-con greed to destroy this nation's once robust economy.
Now, these same Republicans are fighting tooth-and-nail against a plan designed to save real working Americans from this very ideology.
Taking into account the sad state of America and her equally sad republican sculpted economy, does this sound like a plausible way to win re-election to you?

[georgiaR]

The economy was doing fine the first 6 years of Bush's presidency. It was the last 2 years (when the democrats took control of congress) when things fell apart. Why?? Because of the housing bubble which caused the banking crisis. The members of congress that were pushing for mortgages to people that could not afford them should be investigated (Barney Frank & Chris Dodd)

[tjirish44]

Georgia WRONG, WRONG!!! I love that argument "when DEM's took control of congress." DEMS barely took control of Senate and they couldn't pass any legislation without a filibuster threat. More importantly any legislation they passed would be vetoed by Bush and they could not get enough votes to overturn veto. What the DEM's did do by winning in 06 is stop Bush agenda and FORCE Bush to change course on Iraq. Peopel like say surge worked by Bush. But if DEMS don't win in 06 you can argue bush never would have changed course. The political climate changed in Washington forcing Bush to go to Petraus. Neocons government had big plans for Iraq. Bases etc...All off table now. As for economy. The rich were getting richer and the whole bush economy was based on debt. Buy a house, take out a loan off equity and buy other stuff. No govt regulation stopping the Wall street bs and people from getting loas with weak credit. This was all Bush and GOPs ideas. They controlled entire gov't. A house of cards they built. What should have happen disregarding Iraq was a bad idea. After 911 Bush should have announced his war on terror and for good of country had congress retract the bush tax cuts. That would have been the right and patriotic thing to do.

[1liberalconspirator]

I call new talking point of the day here. It's the same line on several different posts from different posters.

Of course it's not true...Hilarious the economy doing well the first six years of Bush's presidency-LOL!

[aldo]

georgiaR

Stupid is as stupid does !

It must be nice living in fairy tale land

[1liberalconspirator]

It's another of today's talking points. It's not true. GeorgiaR give us some sources that support your argument. Some actual hard data from an impartial source. You can't because it is not true.

[RealityBaseCamp]

Wow, that's great . . . you've proven you can repeat what you've been told to say. Now, like the rest of us, try looking something up. Google "ownership society."

[MadeinAmericaProud]

It shows We the people keep going around that mountain electing Republicans to run this nation.
The stock market has a name for it, cyclical. I plain talk, it called rip off time to the dumb American
voters or those who should have voted to keep them out of office.

They take away from all the voters and non-voters as much as they can get away with. T

The American people who want change in a instant, and expect the 44th President to do more than any other President who has never had to face such as a global market and intermingled global finance business climate.

These people who want change in an instant are clueless people, they don't know United States history.

Have no idea what has happen by having a republican president that has stripped any wealth Clinton and the American people had builded to the point Bush gave the money away to all his rich friends who helped him get elected.

His friends even borrowed money from their overseas connections. Bush ran up a big IOU with them. That is why many 401K plans have been reduced, and the other money went to Iraqee people to make Bush look good that the surge is working. Paying $300.00 each a month cash to well over 69,000 son of Iraq not to fight American soldiers. That is millions of dollars of our taxes paying welfare. While we are receiving welfare from china.

[omo]

There's a great Chinese parable called "How Ming Lo Moved the Mountain".
Ming Lo and his wife lived in the shadow of a great mountain which made their lives dark and miserable. Ming Lo went to the village elder and asked what to do. The elder said :

"You must take your wife's hand and bravely face the mountain. Then you must put one foot behind the other. And your wife must do the same thing. This is called 'the step of the moving mountain'. Continue putting one foot behind the other and you will see that the mountain is moving away from you. When the mountain has moved so far away that it is small in the distance, then you may stop putting one foot behind the other and begin your lives over again."

We all need to dance to the 'step of the moving mountain' in regards to the Republicans !

[1liberalconspirator]

Boboday555 consider yourself fanned!

[Paisano]

What the hell does this mean???

We were against it before we were for it????

The American people are going to like it that the party took on Wall st...

So now... THE REPOPPOSITES SAY..."We support it but don't want to be a part of it?

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS! Other than...

WE STAND FOR NOTHING! That's the new republican motto!!!

[judithod]

The Republicans wanted a chance to read the bill before it passed. The Democrats don't know how to read so they called for the vote in order to hide their illiteracy.

[ConservMom]

HA! I like that one judithod!

[1liberalconspirator]

If they can't keep up they should get a job that they are qualified for.

[patricksmom]

The Republicans had no interest in reading the bill or listening to their constituents. The same people who didn't have time to read the bill had time to threaten a filibuster.

[pk4obama]

the republicans were too busy sitting in a room plotting a plan to smack Obama....it's been on the internet for 3 weeks and they were "too busy" to glance at it? Really, they choreographed this so well that they actually believe it themselves. They weren't going to vote for it, so why read it? Then to have Bonehead throw it on the ground like a first grader throwing a frigging fit was over the top of dramatics....save for a few - all republicans are spoiled children and can't accept change, so they continue to fall into the abyss they have created themselves....I'm enjoying seeing them go down in flames....

[Boboday555]

I think the Republicans who are worried about upcoming primaries and have voted against this plan in hopes of winning votes, have got it all wrong.
Sure, the GOP's base is filled with knee-jerk idealogues masquerading as adults but, this same base has suffered more under this "neo-confederate movement" than practically any other group of Americans and, if their Republican Reps ignore them AGAIN, by voting against this rescue plan, they will not be re-elected.
Sure you can fool them 99% of the time but NOT when they're unemployed due to Republican lead outsourcing and homeless due to Republican lead Wall-Street deregulation.
Arlen Specter understands this.
Thankfully his neo-confederate collegues don't.

[DawnK]

What kills me is that these guys are afraid of losing a primary if they vote with Obama and the Dems but wouldn't inaction to the problem look worse, even to a conservative? I mean they lost their jobs too. They are having financial difficulties too. I guess we will have to see.

[Boboday555]

Republicans putting their petty party before the good of the country once again.

Good for you, go take another American Flag lapel pin (made in China of course) out of petty cash Repubs.

[ConservMom]

WHAT? Excuse me... But it's the DEMS putting their PETTY party before country! THEY ALL PASSED THE STIMULUS BILL! Not ONE voted against it! WOW... you are biased!

[patricksmom]

If the Rethuglicans were not on auto pilot it is strange that none in the house and only 3 in the senate voted for it. Monkey see, monkey do.

[pk4obama]

Sorry you are wrong... I believe 7 dems voted against it ....I bet you support palin and joe the plumber.....

[judesedit]

Yeah. Until it's successful. Then they'll try to take all of the credit for it. Each and every bill they get is huge and most don't read them. All of a sudden, they are acting like it is unusual. Spare us. Haven't you learned we are not as dumb as you'd like to think.
It's pretty hard to swallow that they care more about their reelections, than helping the Americans that pay their salaries of a couple hundred thousand...not to mention the perks. It's only common sense to vote these weaklings out of office the next time they are up for reelection.
Thank you Specter, Collins and Snowe for stepping up to the plate.