I've been reading comments over the last several days from Dems upset over how the stimulus package has moved through Congress and the many things included or not included in it. It's all very dire talk about how Obama got played and the Republicans can claim a huge victory from all of this.
But like Matt and Ezra, I'm of the opinion that the goal was to get a sizable stimulus package passed through Congress in Obama's first month and it looks like that's going to happen. Moreover, though the House bill was imperfect and the Senate version was even less perfect, things can still be improved when the bill moves through conference committee on its way to the White House. And at the end of the day, there's lots of good stuff in this bill. There's also ridiculously dumb stuff in this bill, but I think the chances are good that when the midterm elections roll around the economy will have improved enough for President Obama and the Democrats to claim victory in their goal to stimulate the economy. It's important to remember that unless the Democrats somehow get over 60 votes there's going to be some degree of insanity in every bill so it can attrack Republican votes because they're a party that refuses to let go of failed ideas. That President Obama can get "pretty good" legislation through Congress is enough for me to take without declaring the sky to have fallen.
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I agree with you that something is better than nothing. I disagree with you what's coming out of the Senate is "a pretty good bill". It isn't. The Centrists have negotiated away what was probably the single most important piece of the legislation, the state stabilization funds, in exchange for more tax cuts. That's just insane.
Yes, we still have to wait and see what comes out of the reconciliation process, but I'm not feeling very optimistic about that.
Matt's right about one thing... the filibuster must be eliminated.
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