Congratulations, House Republicans!
You held firm, every single one of you.
Congratulations, eleven House Democrats!
You listened to your constituents.
Congratulations to all House members who refused to vote for that bloated spending bill that Barack Obama and the Dems are trying to force on the American people.
From the New York Times:
Without a single Republican vote, President Obama won House approval on Wednesday for an $819 billion economic recovery plan as Congressional Democrats sought to temper their own differences over the enormous package of tax cuts and spending.
As a piece of legislation, the two-year package is among the biggest in history, reflecting a broad view in Congress that urgent fiscal help is needed for an economy in crisis, at a time when the Federal Reserve has already cut interest rates almost to zero.
But the size and substance of the stimulus package remain in dispute, as House Republicans argued that it tilted heavily toward new spending instead of tax cuts.
All but 11 Democrats voted for the plan, and 177 Republicans voted against it. The 244-to-188 vote came a day after Mr. Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to seek Republican backing, if not for the package then on other issues to come.
Mr. Obama, in a statement hailing the House passage of the plan, did not take note of the partisan divide but signaled that he expected changes to be made in the Senate that might attract support.
The Republicans and a handful of Dems put Obama on notice: Not everyone is buying into the messiah's cult of personality.
I'm encouraged by this display of Republican solidarity. I have renewed hope.
This bill loaded with anti-economic stimulus spending and benefits is all Dem. Not a single Republican agreed to take responsibility for the $819 billion plan.
Here's Obama's statement on the House passage of the massive spending bill:
STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT ON THE HOUSE PASSAGE OF THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT
“Last year, America lost 2.6 million jobs. On Monday alone, we learned that some of our biggest employers plan to cut another 55,000. This is a wakeup call to Washington that the American people need us to act and act immediately.
That is why I am grateful to the House of Representatives for moving the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan forward today. There are many numbers in this plan. It will double our capacity to generate renewable energy. It will lower the cost of health care by billions and improve its quality. It will modernize thousands of classrooms and send more kids to college. And it will put billions of dollars in immediate tax relief into the pockets of working families.
But out of all these numbers, there is one that matters most to me: this recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years.
I can also promise that my administration will administer this recovery plan with a level of transparency and accountability never before seen in Washington. Once it is passed, every American will be able to go the website recovery.gov and see how and where their money is being spent.
The plan now moves to the Senate, and I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk. But what we can't do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do.”
Hey, Obama!
The DEMOCRATS in the House passed the bill.
The passage was purely partisan. The only bipartisanship displayed was in the vote against it.
I hope the Senate Republicans look to the House Republicans and follow their lead.
Maybe Obama really is delivering change. Maybe it took Obama to get the Republicans back on the right path.
_______________
More on Obama's failed effort to win bipartisanship support for the Dems' Wish List.
President Barack Obama's economic stimulus legislation is headed for the Senate after a surprisingly partisan vote in the House in which Republicans united in opposition and 11 mostly conservative Democrats defected.
...The $819 billion measure has attracted criticism from Republicans and, privately, from some Democrats for spending billions of dollars on Democratic favorites like education despite questions as to whether they would really put people to work.
...The House plan largely reflects Obama's desires, but after zero GOP support, he suggested the House plan was hardly perfect.
"I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk," Obama said.
The total lack of support from House Republicans wasn't about wanting to hand Obama a political defeat.
It received zero support because it's a giant spending bill, not an economic stimulus bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment