As Congress gets to the down-and-dirty of reconciling the two stimulus bills, there is a strong case for favoring the House's version with more emphasis on aid to strapped states and less lip service to indefensible tax cuts.
Politically the only thing Democrats have to fear in this situation is, yes, fear itself in worrying about the loss of the three Senate moderates to provide cloture for the final bill.
Irrational as the GOP may be in gambling its future on the failure of Obama's efforts to save the economy, it would be suicidal for them to mount a Senate filibuster, an act that would be seen by Americans as harassing firemen trying to save the occupants of a burning building.
As uncertain as voters may be about the stimulus, polls show the President has persuaded a majority that something needs to be done and soon. The lonely trio of Senate Republican moderates, no matter how displeased they may be with the final bill, won't want to take the heat for blocking its passage, even though the right-wing smear machine is gearing up to pressure them to recant.
The Democrats' mission this week is to satisfy, insofar as possible, their House disaffected and get the stimulus passed.
The time for arguing and bluffing is past.
Showing posts with label Senate passage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senate passage. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thursday, October 02, 2008
The Decision to Go Over a Cliff
Congress is facing a Butch-and-Sundance moment tomorrow in the debate over hurtling into the unknown as relentless mercenary forces close in.
The Senate has thrown them some goodies to slow down the stampede but essentially left the $700 billion cost unchanged--in fact, adding $150 billion in reduced taxes to the ransom.
In the House showdown, it will still be an odd coalition of liberals and conservatives controlling the swing votes. “The bailout legislation that the Senate is sending back to the House," says Texas Republican Joe Barton, "is a fraternal twin to the one I voted against on Monday."
Virginia Democrat Bobby Scott insists there are "a lot of things we can do at virtually no cost to the taxpayer" rather than "a $700 billion purchase of worthless assets," citing mark-to-market accounting to expand lending capacity, net worth certificates to give banks confidence in lending money to other banks and a counterpart of the Home Ownership Loan Corporation of the Great Depression, "which, when the dust settled, we protected all the mortgages, prevented foreclosures, and ended up making a profit."
If Congress were not in panic mode, members could consider still other approaches such as Paul Krugman's plan "centered on purchases of preferred stock and takeovers of failing firms--basically, a plan clearly focused on recapitalizing the financial sector, with nationalization where necessary."
But with the hot breath of voters only a month away, House members will be deciding less on the merits of the rescue bill than calculation of the odds of their own chances at the polls.
On further thought, for taxpayers this may not be like Butch and Sundance, who somehow managed to survive their free fall, but more like Thelma and Louise.
The Senate has thrown them some goodies to slow down the stampede but essentially left the $700 billion cost unchanged--in fact, adding $150 billion in reduced taxes to the ransom.
In the House showdown, it will still be an odd coalition of liberals and conservatives controlling the swing votes. “The bailout legislation that the Senate is sending back to the House," says Texas Republican Joe Barton, "is a fraternal twin to the one I voted against on Monday."
Virginia Democrat Bobby Scott insists there are "a lot of things we can do at virtually no cost to the taxpayer" rather than "a $700 billion purchase of worthless assets," citing mark-to-market accounting to expand lending capacity, net worth certificates to give banks confidence in lending money to other banks and a counterpart of the Home Ownership Loan Corporation of the Great Depression, "which, when the dust settled, we protected all the mortgages, prevented foreclosures, and ended up making a profit."
If Congress were not in panic mode, members could consider still other approaches such as Paul Krugman's plan "centered on purchases of preferred stock and takeovers of failing firms--basically, a plan clearly focused on recapitalizing the financial sector, with nationalization where necessary."
But with the hot breath of voters only a month away, House members will be deciding less on the merits of the rescue bill than calculation of the odds of their own chances at the polls.
On further thought, for taxpayers this may not be like Butch and Sundance, who somehow managed to survive their free fall, but more like Thelma and Louise.
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