Guess what? Republican Senators aren't going to support Obama's stimulus. Wow. No one could have predicted that.
The majority of the GOP Senators were never ever going to support Obama's stimulus package -- no matter what he gave them in it. They are obstructionists and desperately want Obama's presidency to fail, even if that means the nation fails. Let's just hope the Obama team learned something from this experience. He has huge Democratic margins in the House and Senate. Work with them for the American people:
Obama's stimulus package is on track to pass before the Presidents Day recess in mid-February. But it is increasingly doubtful that he will pick up the 80 Senate votes he had hoped to win in the first major legislative test of his presidency. Instead, the bill is likely to pass on the strength of the Democrats' majority.The staffer on the Obama team leaked the idea that Obama could get 80 votes in the Senate on the stimulus package should learn to keep his or her mouth shut.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Wednesday that prospects for bipartisanship in the stimulus debate rapidly were eroding.
"The air is coming out of that balloon," Thune said. "To attract Republicans, they lose Democrats. It is a very difficult needle to thread. They are discovering that the goal [of an 80-vote majority] is unrealistic. He got so much push-back from his own people."
House Republican leaders have set up a working group to draft their own stimulus proposal focusing on permanent, across-the-board tax relief. And the Republican Study Committee, a group of about 100 conservative House Republicans, unveiled a bill Wednesday that contains a series of tax cuts, including reducing all personal income tax rates by 5% and cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.
There is strength in those Democratic majorities. A lot of people worked very hard to secure that margin. Make it work.
