Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 27, 2008 (Saturday Session) #pork

Yesterday, Senate Democrats did not get the 60 votes needed to move forward with a bloated $56 billion stimulus package stuffed with all kinds of extraneous spending (pork) including billions in food stamps and extensions of unemployment insurance.

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM and voted 82-12 to agree to the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur with an amendment to the continuing resolution (CR) (H.R. 2638). A final vote on the CR could come as early as 1 PM today. Staff negotiations on the economic stablization plan went well into the night last night and are expected to resume this morning. Members are expected to join in later in the day. Sen. Harry Reid said this morning that he may file for cloture on the fiscal 2009 Defense authorization bill (S. 3001) today, setting up a vote on Monday. Few on Capitol Hill are pleased with situation that has led us to this legislation, but most believe something like it is necessary. As Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “The only reason to support this action is to save ordinary Americans from an economic disaster that they had no hand in creating.”

Today, the editors of The Wall Street Journal lay out their arguments for supporting the plan being crafted in Congress, concluding, “The U.S. banking system continues to be under enormous stress, and if managed well the Paulson plan offers a decent prospect of preventing it from further infecting the economy. It might save taxpayers money in the long run. Yes, some bankers will remain in business when they wouldn't otherwise, but Schadenfreude is not a policy and revenge against what's left of Wall Street isn't worth the potential harm to innocents on Main Street.” The Hill reports that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan urged rapid passage of the rescue plan stating, “swift action to relieve the current financial crisis” which “would maintain the functions of credit markets and prevent a serious economic contraction.”

In a positive development yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators rejected a plan pushed by Sen. Harry Reid and Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) to re-impose the ban on oil shale development in the Rocky Mountains that House Democrats had agreed to drop. Sen. McConnell said, “A bipartisan group of Senators stood up today for the American people by refusing to block access to our vast western states oil reserves. For the last several months, Americans have been clamoring for Congress to bring relief to high prices at the pump by promoting new energy sources – particularly through off-shore drilling and developing oil shale.”

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Tags: Continuing Resolution, CR, domestic oil production, economic stabilization, economic stimulus, economy, oil ban, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!