First day of the 111th Congress, Washington D. C. - Jan 6, 2008

Today marks the first day of the 111th Congress, with the new House and Senate convening at noon to swear in members. And, the Democrats leadership is already showing it's ineptness via the various fiasco related to seating the certain Democrats. One example being Roland Burris, a legally appointed black man with clean record of service, who would be the only black Senator in this Congress replacing former senator and Pres-Elect Barrack Obama. Word is on the street that Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, has tried to use his influence in the Senate because he wanted Illinois to appoint "a white woman." So, Reid likes interfering in the appointments by other states and has led the effort to not seat Burris arguing mute points that everyone can see through and making a laughing stock of his leadership. And Reid was successful at least for today. Even Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, is licking the boots of Sen. Harry Reid. Would be funny if it were not so disgusting. Thank you Harry Reid!< Though Democrats enter this year enjoying larger majorities, Republicans have already had some success in moving the debate in a more conservative direction on a proposed stimulus package. After the election in November, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said that he was looking forward to working with the new president-elect on “issues on which Republicans and Democrats can agree” such as tax relief for Americans. Republicans, then, were pleased to see news reports this weekend indicating that Barack Obama "intends" to follow through with his pledge to cut taxes. Sen. McConnell said at a press availability yesterday, “I think there will be widespread Republican enthusiasm for having a significant percentage of the package be tax relief. The best way to stimulate the economy, obviously, is to put money directly in the pockets of taxpayers.” House Republican Leader John Boehner agreed: “I think we’re glad that the president-elect believes that tax cuts are, in fact, stimulative and will, in fact, help get our economy moving.”

At the same time, Republicans have expressed their concerns about the size of the proposed spending package reaching $1 trillion, a number The Wall Street Journal noted as a possibility in December. Democrats seem to be scaling plans back a bit, with Obama reportedly looking at $775 billion, according to.

Don't you love it when the Democrats fleece America by setting forward large spending programs and work up the frenzy of concerned citizens, definitely conservatives, and most of the elected Republicans. Then the Democrats get what they originally wanted by agreeing to a lower figure. Oldest negotiating trick in the book. Now, current Republican sources, although they agree that this "is still a massive amount of money," are heartened that Obama and Democrats appear to be moving away from last fall’s pattern of proposing an even larger price tag seemingly every week.

Finally, after Republican leaders are opposed to having such a huge bill rushed through with no committee consideration, Democrats appear to be backing off their initial plans to have the bill done by January 20th. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Sunday that he didn’t think a bill would be completed that early, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went as far as to say he didn’t want “to have some false deadline.”

Of course, when it comes to the substance of the bill, it won’t be just about differences between Republicans and Democrats, as The Wall Street Journal reminds readers today, “There are serious obstacles [for Democrats], starting with the party itself, which is hardly unified. Some Democratic congressional factions, like the more-conservative Blue Dogs, are deeply suspicious of expanded federal spending.” Although Blue Dogs have continually failed in supporting their own alleged opposition to increased spending, at least without more taxes, they and other Democrats may also be cautious about letting the bill be loaded up with dubious projects like "Mob museums and waterslides.”

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Tags: Dick Durbin, economic stimulus, government spending, Harry Reid, Roland Burris, US Congress, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!