Patriotic Extortion
Like religious zealots whose tiny parties hold Israeli governing coalitions hostage, three Republican senators have the Democratic Congress by the short hairs. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, along with Maine's two Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, have improbably been empowered to kosher the stimulus bill - to decide which billions get called pork, and which get the "centrist" seal of approval. And in the political equivalent of the Stockholm syndrome, grass roots Democrats are now being urged by liberal groups to call these senators' offices and tell them what profiles in courage they are.
I don't doubt that it took gumption for Sens. Specter, Snowe and Collins to tell Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that they were going rogue on him. After all, not a single House Republican had the moxie to tell their leader, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), that the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression might be an opportune moment to find common ground with a party fresh from winning the House, the Senate and the White House with the promise to change how Washington works.
But risking McConnell's ire was a small price to pay in return for wielding scimitars on the Obama proposal. Anything this troika wanted cut from the bill was axed. Higher education construction projects? Eliminated - along with the jobs that $3.5 billion would have created. School construction? $16 billion gone. Funds to green federal buildings? $3.5 billion bites the dust, just because they said so.
Perhaps the most galling excision was a $40 billion cut in aid to states.
Faced with plunging personal, sales and corporate income tax revenue, the states are looking at a $350 billion shortfall between now and fiscal year 2011. Unlike the federal government, states by law can't run a deficit. To deal with this year's $47 billion hole, desperate states are moving toward massive layoffs of public employees, painful cuts in services and higher taxes and fees. Every one of the 40 billion "fiscal stabilization" dollars that these three senators cut from the stimulus bill would have helped the states avoid the fate they're facing: laying off cops and firefighters and school nurses, cutting health care; closing parks, scaling back environmental programs, shutting down public transportation systems, stiffing the states' vendors, and dragging down their economies by enacting higher taxes. And for this these senators deserve our thanks?
Yet Barack Obama gets no bipartisan street cred with the Washington establishment for peeling them from the minority. "I guarantee this is not bipartisan," pronounced the Republican presidential candidate he defeated, for whom he has since done everything short of installing him in a White House granny flat.
No, the only reason the president is praising these three senators' "patriotism," the only reason blue dog Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) cooked up this deal with them, the only reason that majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel blessed this "compromise," is that Democrats fall three votes short of the 60 they'd need shut off a Republican filibuster.
Here's how the Senate works these days: Fifty-one votes may be enough of a majority to chair the committees and get the good offices, but it's not enough to get a bill passed. In the last Congress, and apparently in this one, if the Democratic majority lacks 60 votes for anything, they pre-emptively cave. They won't bring a measure to the floor unless they already know that they can stop the Republicans from talking it to death.
Imagine if the Democrats had not pre-capitulated to the Republicans on the stimulus bill. Imagine if they had forced the Republicans to actually mount a filibuster - to talk all night, to give the television cameras a good long look at obstructionism in action. If the American people had seen what Republicans truly mean by "loyal opposition," who knows? Maybe the ensuing firestorm would have convinced a few Republicans facing re-election in 2010 to fold even without bribing them with bad policy decisions.
A President Obama who stuck to his guns, who rallied the country, who forced the Republicans to reveal themselves as curators of a failed ideology; a president who compromised no more than he had to might not get props from the media elite, and he'd have to put away a childish thing like unilateral bipartisanship. But as John McCain's whingeing proves, chasing solons who put party ahead of country is a mug's game.
The $40 billion removed from the fiscal stabilization funds at the behest of Sens. Specter, Snowe and Collins may yet be put back in the bill by the House-Senate conference committee. If that happens, here's hoping that the political cost of restoring them isn't any greater than the price in principle that the Administration has already paid.
This is my column from The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. You can read more of my columns here, and e-mail me there if you'd like.
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Senate Stimulus Bill (Full Text)
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Krugman: Obama Let Centrists Hurt Stimulus Bill
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Stimulus, Yes; Bank Bailout II, No
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Economic Stimulus: Investing in Vets Delivers a Huge Bang for the Buck
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Bipartisanship Fetishism vs. What's Best for America: Obama Needs to Choose
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Billionaire For A Day: A More Entertaining Economic Stimulus Package
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Palin's Facebook Page: Opposes Obama's Stimulus Plan
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Just imagine: What if McCain Had Won the Election and Obama had Shafted him During the Stimulus Debate?
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Stimulate Me!
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Where's Ross Perot When You Need Him?
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Rahm Throws Pelosi Under The Bus To Save Stimulus Bill
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Our Twin Crises
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Oh, About That "End" of the Obama Honeymoon ...
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Steele Crazy After All This Year
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Spaghetti Economics
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Command and Control?
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Why the Stimulus is Needed, Part II
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House vs. Senate Stimulus Bills
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A Better Stimulus for the Economy
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The Truth About the Stimulus Package
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Operation Zero Cred
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Stimulus Package: If You Jump Halfway Across a Chasm You Fall Into the Abyss
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Change vs. Bipartisanship: What Happens When You Throw a Bipartisan Party and Half the Guest List Stays Home?
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Delusional or Just Cynical?
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Obama Financial Team to Taxpayers: You'll Get Nothing, and Like It
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No, Seriously: Republicans Don't Get It
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Selling Stimulus
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A New Movement
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Stimulating
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Bipartisanship (is) for Dummies
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Obama: Use This And the Jobs Bill Will Pass With a 100 Vote Margin
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Obama to Speak Monday Night on Stimulus While Rep. Pete Sessions Says Republicans Are the New Taliban
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Pulling the Wool Over Our Eyes
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Our Phone Calls Are Working, Don't Let Up!
If representatives know that's what their constituents want, they will be both more inclined to keep that critical public investment from the House bill, and act with the speed.
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Obama Undermines Jobs Mandate For the Sake of Bipartisanship
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Lions Coach Up Steelers on Stimulus Package
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Democrats in Congress Need to Learn How to Lead
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Republicans Say They'd Support the "Right" Stimulus Bill, But Stimulus for Them Is Only More Tax Cuts
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How quickly and easily everyone seems to have come to the conclusion that all hope is lost. Yes everyone in our federal government is acting like children as usual, but doesn't Obama get any chances to directly test the waters he is going to have to navigate for the next four (to eight) years? Now he can publicly say that he has given the entrenched politicians every opportunity to come aboard and they have spat at him. This has revealed a final fact about most of these people; the fact that they don't care about any American that can't increase their bottom line or isn't already in the leisure class at this point. NO ONE with a conscience or that cares about people would even THINK of proposing the kinds of cuts that you describe above. It is particularly poignant to discuss cuts in some states like Arizona for example where Janet Napolitano was lost due to Obama's appointment. Together with sens. mccain and kyle the republican hack now in place have formed a 'cut all public services' cabal. Arizona is about to lose nearly all public health-care funding as well as education and a whole myriad of proven programs that are only being closed due to a lack of funds in the state. NO government programs that are PROVEN to be effective should EVER be considered for closure; especially during an economic downturn when their purpose is to support those most in need.
I agree 1000% -- the Democratic Congressional leadership (if you can call it that -- evidence is lacking) needs to stop worrying about "We wrote a bill and it got shot down" and shoot for "We wrote a bill and
THEY shot it down". If it's a good bill, THEY will suffer. If not, well, what did you expect? In addition, if they voted on every "good" (here defined as "supported by a majority of the voting public" -- which I realize is hard to quantify) bill and forced opposition (GOP or blue dog or otherwise) to actually come out in the light and oppose it -- they might find that some of these "no chance" bills would actually pass anyway.
If they are never actually challenged, then of course they need not worry about their reelections, and can keep saying NO with impunity and immunity.
The filibuster have become the central issue in this current rendition of the Civil War. The Republicans are now the party of the sessionist South; let's do battle, make them filibuster and show their true colors, stars and bars.
Dare the Republican senators to filibuster. You betcha. I've been thinking the same thing for a long time. This is a popular plan, and the Democrats should go forward with it regardless of the filibuster threat. Much better to do it sooner on this bill, rather than later on a more unpopular bill.
Failing to be able to see the fallen of Iraq and Afghanistan arriving at Dover AFB allowed for an incomplete reality to permeate the consciousness of the American people.
In like kind, by not forcing the Rethuglicans to stand and try to defend the indefensible, again we allow a false perception.
To those who may think this a false comparison, I say this. People have, and will, die in this country due to Rethuglican recalcitrance. Starvation, suicide, and murder. We're already seeing it happen.
Marty, I hope you're right, but I don't expect it. The Dems are just not confrontational enough to go ahead and replace monies excised by the Rethug tantrums.
The sooner the Dems come to the realization of the level of irrelevancy the Rethugs deserve, the better off we will all be.
Very excellent observation. The very bottom of the social ladder is prisons and mental health facilities and the morgue. Anyone with a few functioning brain-cells could easily see that if you are in the business of decreasing the numbers of citizens that fall into those categories, EVERYONE is doing better. When one realizes the fact that these "republican" people are in the business of INCREASING these numbers, attributing death and disillusionment to their plan becomes very easy and correct. They just happen to believe that they are special and somehow different than the houseless people you see every day on your way to work. I would wish that the entire economy would collapse so completely that EVERYONE would get a taste of poverty but the truth is that there is a class of people completely immune to this due to their long-term thievery and the republican party worships them.
The democrats in congress are weak and cowardly. If they had any guts at all they would've impeached Bush and Cheney while they had the chance. It's no surprise they won't stand up to a few Republicans now.
Pelosi is a republican spy. She is worse than Lieberman. If Obama can not get rid of her, she will take the democratic party down the tubes. People voted for change, and it better start happening soon.
It would be nice if Republicans could be constructive, but 10 years of destructiveness has corrupted them beyond redemption. As the French did so long ago, it is time to start giving republicans hair cuts...
See Joseph A. Palermo's Profile
Yes, I think the time will come when they will force them to mount a filibuster, maybe for health care -- let the American people see the Republicans up there trying to stop health care for people in need. I think the calculation might have been that giving the GOP senators the platform might influence public opinion the other way -- I've been calling for them to force a filibuster all along.
I agree with you, Mr. Palermo! The Democrats should have forced a filibuster on the stimulus package and let their constituents see just how much those who get up and read, "Gone with the Wind" and the like care about the American people who are losing jobs every day, cannot pay their mortgage or buy groceries, get a business off the ground, etc.
That would have been the smartest move the Democrats could have made. Now, they are letting the Republicans frame the issue and it is making the President look weak. I do not believe he is, but it appears that this is what is happening.
We need much stronger leaders in the House and Senate. It seems the only person Nancy Pelosi has stood up to is President Obama. Where was she when Bush and Cheney were running roughshod over the country?
Reid and Pelosi both need to go.
I agree with Mr Kaplanm. Harry Reid should make the Republicans fdilibuster the bill.
Then we will see how the insurgent tactics the GOP admits it learned from the Taliban will be accepted by the American people.
Texas Rep. Sessions said the Republicans have learned a thing or two from observing the Taliban; and he was serious.
Does anyone not believe the GOP is a terrorist organization?
We need to elect some good old fashioned Democrats to the Senate.
There was a time before the Party lost its nerve when it had liberals who would fight.
We need to re-establish the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
I cannot tell whether Mr. Kaplan just could not think of anything better to write or whether he gets some goodies from distorting the news.
Nothing has been lost by compromise on this huge bill. Instead, a whole lot has been done in a single gulp. Every item that has been cut out of the bill can be entered separately or in less comprehensive legislation in other bills.
This is not about making your opponents look bad. Nor is it about timid leadership. It's about the fact that we need to get started, ASAP. I have not read a single informed comment that doubts this bill will be the first of many efforts. Maybe columnists who have gotten so used to complaining, justly, about what has created this predicament are too fossilized to recognize a breakthrough when it is happening.
["This is not about making your opponents look bad."] -------- Really, January, really!!! Why don't you tell that to the 'Recalcitrant Rethuglicans' !!!!
Furthermore, every time items, like monies for school rebuilding and social programs get excised, they are painted with the patina of pork such that it becomes harder and harder to re-introduce. Such programs are amongst the most productive in bringing about a stimulating affect.
["I have not read a single informed comment that doubts this bill will be the first of many efforts."]
This statement alone shows your stripes. Kicking the can down the road does not serve us well. It seems to me you fail to comprehend the need for timely response. Plus, use of the phrase "informed comment" only goes to show your self aggrandizing view of your own prescriptions, 'in my opinion'.
I so agree with this, and in my usual juggernaut style would have forced the filibuster had it been my choice, but I have to accept that President Obama must have a reason other than pragmatism for his actions. I certainly hope so, otherwise the next 4 years are going to be along ones.
Eric Lotke, Campaign for America's Future research director and lead author of the new report, calls the obstruction a "deliberate strategy." He observes that the congressional Republicans block legislation, then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done. "It's like mugging the postman and then complaining that the mail isn't delivered on time."
Democrats are still acting like an abused spouse. They cringe when anyone challenges them, they give in over every abusive objection and doubt themselves at every turn. Better the devil you know than trying to find a way out. Well, Democrats have got to stand up for themselves. They have got to take the political risks. I agree and let the Republicans filibuster. Let them defend why they are standing in the way of recovery. Show them as the selfish, greedy bastards they are. Get some economists on TV to explain why tax cuts alone won't help anything.
And as a listener on a mental health crisis line, I would indulge a fantasy. Go over the abuser and give them back, with interest, all the abuse they have heaped on us for the past 30 years.
There is no justification for the fillibuster unless it actually is required to use it. A threat to fillibuster should not be the parliamentary procedure, the fillibuster is the parliamentary procedure.
That's the equivalent of saying someone waving a loaded gun around is not a threatening action, it is only when it's actually cocked and pointing at you
Let the Republicans filibuster the stimulus plan to oblivion. Let them self destruct. Their days are numbered if the recession becomes a depression with mob hysteria in the public squares of America.
It is obvious the battle lines have been drawn and the Democratic party wiill rise or fall at this moment in history. They cannot knuckle under. They must prevail. There are many voters that will quit on them if they quit on us. Tax cuts for the middle cl;ass. Tax cuts for small businesses but rescind the tax cuts given to the top 2 or 3 %. They are not hurting.
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