http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... 8936.story

So far, Republican lawmakers have been cool to the president's lobbying on the stimulus bill. He visits Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

By Janet Hook and Peter Nicholas
January 27, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- President Obama travels to the Capitol today to meet with House and Senate Republicans, the latest in a series of high-profile efforts to reach across the aisle and make good on his campaign promise to swim against the partisan tide that has flooded Washington for decades.

So far, his gestures have shown few signs of success, as Republicans have continued to snipe at his signature initiative -- legislation to stimulate the economy -- and even to question the sincerity of his efforts. In the stimulus bill's first two tests last week, it passed two committees without a single Republican vote.

But whether or not he picks up support from Republican lawmakers, Obama has already accomplished one important aim: He is winning over more Republican voters than he did on election day. If that continues, the president's hand could get stronger on Capitol Hill.

"You don't calculate the impact of his effort in terms of the number of votes he gets on the stimulus bill," said Bill McInturff, a GOP pollster who worked for Obama's campaign rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "You calculate it based on how he is perceived by Republicans around the country, and it looks to be substantially more positive."

Still, it will be a blow to Obama if he ends up as Bill Clinton did in 1993, when the president's cornerstone economic initiative, which included a politically risky tax increase, passed without Republican support. If that happens to Obama, it could be a bad omen for his efforts to build bipartisan coalitions on even more divisive issues, such as healthcare and energy legislation.

[snip]

Mr. "I won" is ramping up his bipartisanship?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090127/ap_ ... ma_economy

Obama seeks GOP help on economy; McConnell hopeful

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is making good on his promise to hear from Republicans as he pushes for swift passage and bipartisan backing of his massive $825 billion plan intended to jerk the country out of recession.

The unanswered question: whether the new Democratic president will actually listen to GOP concerns about the amount of spending and the tax approach — and modify his proposal accordingly.

With the economy worsening, Obama was making his first trip to Capitol Hill since his swearing-in last week for two private afternoon sessions Tuesday with House and Senate Republicans.

"The goal is to seek their input. He wants to hear their ideas," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "If there are good ideas — and I think he assumes there will be — we will look at those ideas."

"I think the president is genuinely serious about this," Gibbs added.

[snip]

Bipartisan, my rear end.
Gotta love that unbiased reporting, too:

How the F*** does this government spending stimulate anything outside of government?

That does not even account for the economy going even more in debt.

I just happened upon this comment on some guy's blog:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first10 ... s-dollars/

Republicans Object to Stimulus Dollars for ACORN

Republicans say voter registration and community groups like ACORN could be eligible for funding under the Democrats' economic stimulus bill.

FOXNews.com
Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Republican lawmakers are raising concerns that ACORN, the low-income advocacy group under investigation for voter registration fraud, could be eligible for billions in aid from the economic stimulus proposal working its way through the House.

House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement over the weekend noting that the stimulus bill wending its way through Congress provides $4.19 billion for "neighborhood stabilization activities."

He said the money was previously limited to state and local governments, but that Democrats now want part of it to be available to non-profit entities. That means groups like ACORN would be eligible for a portion of the funds.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., told FOX News Tuesday that the money could be seen as "payoff" for groups' political activities in the last election. ACORN generally supports Democratic candidates and actively backed President Obama last year.

[snip]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1

Obama open to compromise on $825B stimulus bill

Jan 28 12:15 AM US/Eastern
By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) - On the eve of a key vote, President Barack Obama privately promised Republicans he stands ready to accept changes in the $825 billion economic stimulus legislation, invoked Ronald Reagan to rebut conservative critics and urged lawmakers to "put politics aside" in the interest of creating jobs.

"The American people expect action," Obama said Tuesday as he shuttled between closed-door meetings with House and Senate Republicans on a trip to the Capitol that blended substance with political symbolism.

Republicans who attended the sessions said the president did not agree to any specific changes but did pledge to have his aides consider some that GOP lawmakers raised dealing with additional tax relief for businesses.

Prodded to budge on another point, Obama said that despite opposition, he will insist on giving relief to wage-earners who pay Social Security taxes but do not earn enough to owe income tax. His spokesman said the president reminded his critics that former President Reagan—conservative hero to many contemporary Republicans—supported the same concept while in the White House.

[snip]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123307183916519783.html

Stimulus Bill Near $900 Billion

Obama Agrees to Trim Alternative Minimum Tax; Lobbies Rush for Cut of the Pie

By GREG HITT and ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON
January 28, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economic stimulus package neared $900 billion in the Senate, as President Barack Obama wooed Republicans ahead of an expected House vote Wednesday.

The rare trip by a president to Capitol Hill revealed the urgency in Congress and the White House over a cure for the souring economy. More than 70,000 layoffs were announced this week and fresh data showed unemployment last month rose in all states.

The day was marked by Democratic deal-making. The Obama administration indicated it would agree to a $69 billion Senate proposal to shield tens of millions of middle-income Americans from the so-called alternative minimum tax, a priority of Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. The panel later folded the change into the Senate bill.

White House officials also spread the word that Mr. Obama was willing to drop a proposed expansion of contraceptive coverage under Medicaid that has become a symbol for Republican critics. Late Tuesday, Democratic leaders agreed to drop that provision, as well as another measure providing support for refurbishing the capital's National Mall, ahead of the final vote on the House floor Wednesday. Both measures had been lampooned by Republicans.

[snip]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18024.html

Boehner to GOP: Vote against stimulus

By PATRICK O'CONNOR & JONATHAN MARTIN | 1/27/09

It was the love affair that could never be, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans.

The two sides came together en masse Tuesday for the first time since Obama took the oath of office. Despite the niceties, both sides walked away spurned.

In many ways, Obama told the assembled Republicans everything they would want to hear, according to people in the meetings.

He promised to make tough spending choices in his first budget blueprint — “everyone will have to take a haircut,” he said. He told them he wouldn’t increase the size of government just to increase the size of government. He even teased House Minority Leader John A. Boehner about his golf swing.

Likewise, Republicans left the meeting with kind words for the president — but still resolved to oppose him on the floor Wednesday when Democrats bring his massive economic stimulus plan up for a vote.

[snip]

http://businessandmedia.org/articles/20 ... 65919.aspx

Senator Warns White House Will 'Create Crisis' and 'Panic' to Push Stimulus

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., criticizes mainstream media for not reporting loads of pork in proposed legislation.

By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
1/27/2009 5:04:03 PM

Is the new Obama administration taking cues from the Bush administration to get Congress to act? It certainly seemed that way to, South Carolina’s junior Republican senator, Jim DeMint.

DeMint, speaking Jan. 27 at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., explained the Obama administration will “create crisis and widespread panic” just like its predecessor in order to get Congress to act expeditiously.

“I’ve been around long enough to know whenever someone tells me I have to make a decision right now, my response is no,” DeMint said. “That clears it up right away and I think more and more the Bush administration and now this administration knows that they’re not going to get a quick reaction out of Congress unless they create crisis and widespread panic. And that’s going to be their M.O. to get Congress to act.”

Another senator, James Inhofe, R-Okla., explained the Bush administration used a similar tactic, under the direction of former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, to get the $700-billion TARP bailout bill passed by Congress back on Oct. 4, 2008.

[snip]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix ... id=topnews

Between Barack and a Hard Vote

Chris Cillizza
January 28, 2009

[snip]

Second, and of only slightly less importance, is the belief among many Republican strategists (and rank and file GOPers) that the losses at the House, Senate and presidential level over the last few years have been due in large part to an abandonment of the party's core principles -- most notably an emphasis on smaller government and limited spending.

With an $825 billion economic stimulus bill up for a vote in the House today, those two competing notions are headed for a head-on collision. How can Republicans avoid getting squeezed?

Their strategy -- as it emerged over the last 24 hours -- is to praise Obama's willing to reach across the aisle while castigating House Democrats for writing a bill with no GOP input.

[snip]

Will the GOP differentiation strategy (Obama=good, House Democrats=bad) work? And how many "no" votes will be cast by House Republicans today? It's a fascinating early test of the political reach of Obama and the GOP leadership.

[snip]


As the Democrats try to divide the Republicans, the Republicans try to divide the Democrats. Politics rarely sleeps.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Democrats Among Stimulus Skeptics

Some See Long-Term Goals Going Unmet

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 28, 2009; A01

Republican criticism of the stimulus package that the House will vote on tonight has focused on its soaring price tag, but some Democrats on Capitol Hill and other administration supporters are voicing a separate critique: that the plan may fall short in its broader goal of transforming the American economy over the long term.

President Obama, who promoted the $825 billion package at the Capitol yesterday, says the proposal serves two functions -- creating jobs and stimulating the economy in the short term, and laying the groundwork for overhauls in energy, health care and infrastructure that would be felt for decades. But some administration supporters say that while they appreciate Obama's intent, the two goals are competing with each other, and that the package could end up missing both targets.

In testimony before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Alice M. Rivlin, who was President Bill Clinton's budget director, suggested splitting the plan, implementing its immediate stimulus components now and taking more time to plan the longer-term transformative spending to make sure it is done right.

"Such a long-term investment program should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package. The elements of the investment program must be carefully planned and will not create many jobs right away," said Rivlin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. The risk, she said, is that "money will be wasted because the investment elements were not carefully crafted."

[snip]

A WV bank has declined bailout money, story here.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1233201 ... outset-box

Missing in Package: Bipartisan Support

By NAFTALI BENDAVID
January 28, 2009

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has talked often about working toward a new bipartisanship in fractious Washington, and has met frequently with Republicans, hoping to win support.

The net result of all that outreach? Not a single Republican supported Mr. Obama's economic recovery package on the House floor Wednesday night. It passed 244-188, with 11 Democrats joining the Republicans.

The solid Republican opposition, led by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio), raises questions about whether the new era of bipartisanship that Mr. Obama promised during the campaign is truly within reach, or if Washington remains stuck in its acrimonious ways. Most immediately, the vote may mean that Democrats have to make more compromises in the Senate version of the recovery package, which is scheduled for a vote next week.

In the Senate, a vote that falls short of 60 senators supporting a bill allows the opposition to filibuster, or block passage through indefinite debate. But some Republicans are signaling privately that they are reluctant to filibuster the stimulus package, and Senate Democrats appear to be reaching out more aggressively to address GOP concerns on the bill.

[snip]

The house GOP came through on this piece of crap. The senate will probably cave as usual since they suck so badly.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009 ... ulus-vote/

Partisan Barbs Follow House Stimulus Vote

January 29, 2009, 6:03 pm
By Kate Phillips

With the focus on the economic stimulus package shifting to the Senate, the partisan split evident with the Democrat-only passage of the bill in the House last night overshadowed a lot of the discussions on both sides of the aisle today. So much so that various leaders were practically disowning the word bipartisanship as if deadly germs were part of its etymology.

At a news conference earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the Democrat-only passage of the economic stimulus package, contending that Republicans were indeed included; their suggestions on tax cuts had become part of the bill itself, she said. But several G.O.P. senators and representatives hit the airwaves today, criticizing the spending portions and promoting their view of a more palatable alternative — bigger, broader tax cuts and incentives.

When Mrs. Pelosi was asked whether the vote — 244 to 188 without a single Republican’s approval — represented a failure on her part to advance President Obama’s desire for a broad bipartisan bill, she practically snapped:

“I didn’t come here to be partisan. I didn’t come here to be bipartisan. I came here, as did my colleagues, to be nonpartisan, to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest.

[snip]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090202/D963630G0.html

GOP leaders doubt stimulus bill will pass Senate

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday the massive stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats could go down to defeat if it's not stripped of unnecessary spending and focused more on housing issues and tax cut.

The Senate version of the bill, which topped out at nearly $900 billion, is headed to the floor for debate. The House bill totaled about $819 billion and earned no Republican votes, even though it easily passed the Democratic-controlled House. At some point lawmakers will need to compromise on the competing versions.

McConnell and other Republicans suggested that the bill needed an overhaul because it doesn't pump enough into the private sector through tax cuts and allows Democrats to go on a spending spree unlikely to jolt the economy. The Republican leader also complained that Democrats had not been as bipartisan in writing the bill as Obama had said he wanted.

"I think it may be time ... for the president to kind of get a hold of these Democrats in the Senate and the House, who have rather significant majorities, and shake them a little bit and say, 'Look, let's do this the right way,'" McConnell said. "I can't believe that the president isn't embarrassed about the products that have been produced so far."

[snip]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Democrats Set High Goal Of Sweeping Fiscal Reform

As Senate Opens Stimulus Debate, Sacrifices Become More Urgent

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 2, 2009; A01

It's the holy grail of Washington politics: a federal budget that generates ample funds through a simpler and fairer tax code, defuses the spending time bomb for health and retirement programs, and supports the nation's economy during the worst downturn in generations.

President Obama and congressional Democrats have high ambitions to chart such a course, and say that they hope to strike a grand bargain with Republicans to bring taxes and government spending back into balance over the next few years, taming budget deficits that threaten to spiral out of control.

That goal has never been more urgent. The Senate opens debate today on a nearly $900 billion plan to pull the nation out of recession. If passed, it would send this year's budget deficit -- the annual gap between spending and income -- soaring toward a record $1.4 trillion, or nearly 10 percent of overall economic output, a level not seen since the end of World War II. The growing gap is rapidly driving up the national debt, causing lawmakers and budget experts to fret that the nation could be overwhelmed by mounting interest payments to private creditors even as it struggles to cover the skyrocketing cost of caring for retiring baby boomers.

But fixing the budget would require a kind of joint political suicide, with Democrats agreeing to trim costly social programs and Republicans acquiescing to a major tax hike. That kind of bargain has eluded previous administrations and seems highly unlikely now, even for a hugely popular new president.

Though key Republicans in the Senate say they are ready to work with Obama, House GOP leaders last week orchestrated a lock-step rejection of his economic stimulus package, signaling their intent to oppose rather than cooperate with the new president. Meanwhile, progressives in the Democratic party are preparing a major push for a big permanent increase in social spending, beyond the expiration date of the stimulus bill.

[snip]


For "sacrifice" to be fair, it cannot simply be once again giving the shaft to the taxpayers. If you are going to expect taxpayers to keep less and pay more, then government and those on the dole need to get by with less, too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... inionsbox1

Too Little Bang for The Bucks

By Robert J. Samuelson
Monday, February 2, 2009; A13

[snip]

As it turns out, President Obama didn't make the tough choices on the stimulus package. He could have either used the program mainly (a) to bolster the economy or (b) to advance a larger political agenda, from energy efficiency to school renovation. But Obama wanted both, and, superficially, the two can be portrayed as an enlightened partnership.

"This is not just a short-term program to boost employment," Obama said recently. "It's one that will invest in our most important priorities like energy and education, health care, and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century."

In its releases, the White House gushes superlatives. The stimulus program, says one fact sheet, "launches the most ambitious school modernization program on record," "computerizes every American's health record in five years" and "undertakes the largest weatherization" -- insulation -- "program in history." What a bonanza of good stuff!

Unfortunately, investing in tomorrow won't automatically stimulate the economy today. The $819 billion program passed by the House would only slowly provide stimulus. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in fiscal 2009 (through this September) about 21 percent of the new spending and tax cuts would flow to the economy. For 2010, the estimate is an additional 44 percent. The total of 65 percent means that, by the CBO's estimate, about a third of the $819 billion package would be spent after fiscal 2010. That falls far short of Obama's stated goal of 75 percent in the first 18 months.

[snip]


Spreading out this increased government spending isn't necessarily a bad thing. Tax credits would be the best way to get money circulating quickly.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123358404214039275.html

Lobbyists Raise Stimulus Price Tag

By BRODY MULLINS and ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON
February 3, 2009

WASHINGTON -- Lobbyists for industry and labor are gearing up to add costly proposals Tuesday to the Senate's nearly $890 billion economic stimulus plan.

Florida citrus growers, California wine growers and a range of agricultural interests are pushing a tiny change that would allow farmers to more quickly depreciate new fields. High-tech and pharmaceutical companies want to save billions in taxes by including a plan that would allow them to bring overseas profits back home at lower tax rates. Labor unions are pressing Congress to make sure that new government funding for green technology results in jobs with good pay and benefits for workers.

Together, the competing lobbying efforts are likely to drive up the overall cost of the stimulus package that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats hope to enact by the end of next week. The Senate version of the legislation, which Senate leaders hope to approve by week's end, has already swelled to $885 billion, according to a new estimate released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

A key Democratic architect of the bill, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, said the measure "has been carefully crafted to produce meaningful improvements to our economy."

Republicans are stepping up criticism of the measure, saying the spending that accounts for two-thirds of the package is a waste of taxpayer dollars. They are pushing instead for greater tax cuts. "Republicans believe we must put money back into the pockets of taxpayers," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.)

[snip]


No surprise that the Senate will inflate the stimulus package even further. Any thought that Senate Republicans would do anything substantial to modify the bill is likely a pipe dream. They haven't shown themselves to be fiscally responsible for the last 15 years; why would they start now? You put a big pile of money in front of a politician, and he's gonna want to get his hands on it.