Murray/Feinstein amendment is going on in the senate

[Ronnie]

Some notes:

So far, there are no interesting votes, other than Kit Bond, and Arlen Specter voting aye. 

Lugar voted no, so that's a bit of a relief.

Mary Landrieu voted no.

BY THE WAY, SUSAN COLLINS VOTED NO.  I WAS RIGHT!!!!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What are we talking about?

[Lief 🗽]

Where the hell does Landrieu get off voting against highway and transportation funding? Her state's roads are horrible.

[Bacon King]

Is this an amendment to attach a bunch of infrastructure funds to the stimulus, or what?

[Lief 🗽]

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http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11332

[Bacon King]

1. That's hardly enough of an increase anyway.
2. WTF Landrieu

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

You can be sure both from our state will vote aye considering what poor transportation did here...

Oh wait, we only have one Senator. Thanks a lot Norm.

[Ronnie]

I wonder how Olympia Snowe will vote, but seeing how Susan Collins voted, I am a bit more optimistic.

[Bacon King]

I wonder how Olympia Snowe will vote, but seeing how Susan Collins voted, I am a bit more optimistic.

Why do you not support infrastructure improvement?

[Franzl]

I wonder how Olympia Snowe will vote, but seeing how Susan Collins voted, I am a bit more optimistic.

Why do you not support infrastructure improvement?

It's basically an anti-government reaction without actually thinking about the merits of the proposal.

[bgwah]

Too much highway and not enough transit

[Franzl]

Wow. Damn it, amendment fails 58-39

[Bacon King]

[Franzl]

voting almost exactly followed party lines.

only DEM to vote NAY: Landrieu
only REP to vote AYE: Specter

[Bacon King]

Franzl, what about:

So far, there are no interesting votes, other than Kit Bond, Arlen Specter, and Thad Cochran voting aye. 

?

[Brittain33]

So, wait--was this a successful filibuster?

[Beet]

Senator McCain had a strong speech. I don't agree with everything he was saying (I think he proposed another $275 billion in tax cuts... and then wails about debt. Senator McCain, your tax cuts will cost far more than all the pork you propose to eliminate from the bill.) Nevertheless, he was going point by point clearly.

Max Baucus just took 3 minutes to make one point, which was idiotic. He is an idiotic. Just kept saying the same thing over and over again.

I see now that John Ensign is pushing the same revisionist line that all Republicans seem to be going all out for now.
Ensign: New Deal sank nation into deeper depression. Same as Amity Shlaes. Same as Peter Schiff. Same as Cal Thomas yesterday. In fact, Thomas said "this is an objective fact." This is WRONG.

I am f**king sickened.

Not just a few hacks, but the entire Republican party is taking their unrealistic talking points very seriously. These guys actually believe this sh*t. The facts are obvious: GNP, which had been contracting annually from 1929 to 1933, began to turn up in March 1933. Unemployment, which had been growing steadily until then, began falling. Industrial production, which had been falling steadily until 1933, began to turn up. There is no objective indicator that the New Deal worsened the depression. If anything, the New Deal was not enough spending.

This is like Democrats coming back and saying the economy got worse under Reagan compared to Carter. One HUGE point against the U.S. right now is that about 45% of the population is willing to accept total hackery.

[Holmes]

Wait, so the money for infrastructure stays the same?

How sad... Let's allocate some of that Oklahoma and Louisiana to other states.

[Marokai Backbeat]

What the hell is wrong with these people? Jesus Christ.

[Matt Damon™]

Why not just simply put all the medicare/medicaid/social security money for this year into infrastructure?

[Beet]

So, wait--was this a successful filibuster?

Yep. Friggin absurd:


WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked Democrats from adding $25 billion for highways, mass transit, and water projects to President Barack Obama's economic recovery program. Already unhappy over the size of the measure, Republicans insisted additional infrastructure projects be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the bill.

1. Rule by the minority. Where was this in 2001-2006? Also-- California has done so well through rule by minority fiscal rules that we should take it nationwide, right? I mean, California never has any fiscal problems, right?

2. No Republican has the right to complain that the bill doesn't have enough infrastructure spending now, because they just blocked a (meager) attempt to augment it.

3. The Republican reasoning is warped. You don't pay for spending with tax CUTS. That is exactly the kind of bullsh**t that has got us into the fiscal hole to begin with. I'd rather have tax-and-spend than borrow-and-spend, because at least with the former, you know what you're getting.

[RI]

So, wait--was this a successful filibuster?

Yep. Friggin absurd:


WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked Democrats from adding $25 billion for highways, mass transit, and water projects to President Barack Obama's economic recovery program. Already unhappy over the size of the measure, Republicans insisted additional infrastructure projects be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the bill.

1. Rule by the minority. Where was this in 2001-2006? Also-- California has done so well through rule by minority fiscal rules that we should take it nationwide, right? I mean, California never has any fiscal problems, right?

2. No Republican has the right to complain that the bill doesn't have enough infrastructure spending now, because they just blocked a (meager) attempt to augment it.

3. The Republican reasoning is warped. You don't pay for spending with tax CUTS. That is exactly the kind of bullsh**t that has got us into the fiscal hole to begin with. I'd rather have tax-and-spend than borrow-and-spend, because at least with the former, you know what you're getting.

I don't think they were asking for tax cuts to pay for additional infrastructure funds, but rather that they don't want to add any more money to the overall sum, so therefore other projects would have to be cut from the bill that are the equivalent value of the new spending so that the cost remains constant.

[Sam Spade]

I think folks know my position on this stuff right now.  Or at least I hope so.

Btw, bonds just got massacred again today.

[Beet]

So, wait--was this a successful filibuster?

Yep. Friggin absurd:


WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked Democrats from adding $25 billion for highways, mass transit, and water projects to President Barack Obama's economic recovery program. Already unhappy over the size of the measure, Republicans insisted additional infrastructure projects be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the bill.

1. Rule by the minority. Where was this in 2001-2006? Also-- California has done so well through rule by minority fiscal rules that we should take it nationwide, right? I mean, California never has any fiscal problems, right?

2. No Republican has the right to complain that the bill doesn't have enough infrastructure spending now, because they just blocked a (meager) attempt to augment it.

3. The Republican reasoning is warped. You don't pay for spending with tax CUTS. That is exactly the kind of bullsh**t that has got us into the fiscal hole to begin with. I'd rather have tax-and-spend than borrow-and-spend, because at least with the former, you know what you're getting.

I don't think they were asking for tax cuts to pay for additional infrastructure funds, but rather that they don't want to add any more money to the overall sum, so therefore other projects would have to be cut from the bill that are the equivalent value of the new spending so that the cost remains constant.

Ah, a misread on my part. Well that is more reasonable.

[Lief 🗽]

Not a surprise; Republicans continue to care more about their ridiculous, failed ideology than improving our country. "Country first" indeed.