Aww, poor babies. Someone get them a binky:
Republicans have caught the Democrats in a midnight âstimulusâ power play that seeks to cut Republican conferees out of the House-Senate negotiations to resolve a final version of the Obama âstimulusâ package. Staff members from the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met last night to put together the âstimulusâ conference report.
***Some Republicans reportedly were in the late-night conference. But — at least from the Senate — the official Republican conferees were excluded. HUMAN EVENTS has received e-mail confirmations from the staffs of both Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Thune (R-S.D.) saying that they had no participation in the conference.
***The deal was Snowe’s and Collins’s, according to a Senate source. Sen. Specter, who had been in Harry Reid’s office for an earlier meeting on the compromise, left at about 7 p.m. At 8:45 p.m., there was another meeting at which Sens. Snowe and Collins were the only Republicans present. They made the deal, and Specter signed on to it later. He had given an indication of the deal earlier that evening in an MSNBC interview.
I guess next time you want a final say in the shaping of a piece of legislation (and you already had a ginormous say in the current legislation) in the conference committee, you probably should bring more than three votes to the table in both houses. Kind of funny how that works, as all the people who voted for the bill on the GOP side are right there working with the Democrats to finalize the bill.
You WATB’s demagogued, lied, whined, and had a hissy fit about the bill, then voted against it en masse even though it contained a number of provisions you wanted and you had inserted in the bill, and then took to the air waves pleased as punch with yourselves. The adults watched you and then decided you needed a timeout. This is bad and wrong, why?
You can whine about this, or you can make sure it doesn’t happen again. Any guesses which path the GOP takes?
*** Update ***
Two quick things. Bush’s signature issue in 2000, a tax cut bill a bill designed to deal with the surplus from the Clinton years, was passed in 2001 with 12 Democratic votes in the Senate, 28 in the house, all in the aftermath of a very contentious election and basically written precisely as the Republicans wanted it (with a few concessions, such as sunset provisions).
By comparison, on the heels of an enormous victory, with large majorities in the House and Senate, facing economic collapse, the Republicans were able to provide a whopping three (3) votes to a bill that before it even was introduced was loaded with tax cuts designed to appease Republicans, and then went through a huge revision to remove things that many republicans found offensive to their delicate sensibilities. Three. Votes. The entire Republican party, in both houses, voted overwhelmingly against tax cuts for the middle class because it was beneficial to them politically. Country first, or something.
Also, this:
Obama: Hey guys, we could really use your help.
Wingnuts: Go jump in a lake, Messiah!
Pelosi: This isnât about party, itâs about people.
Wingnuts: Did you guys hear something? A cackling noise?
Reid: Weâve got 3 votes! Can I get four? Bueller? Bueller?
Snowe: Itâs no use, guys. Why donât we go ahead and get this done tonight.
Wingnuts: Tough talk, but youâll come crawling back to us tomorrow.
(The next day)
Wingnuts: Why werenât we consulted? This is an outrage!! Wait âuntil Rush hears about this!!
Pretty much.
Bipartisanship Means Working In Good Faith With the OppositionPost + Comments (68)