Nancy Pelosi pulls another one out of the fire. Say what you will about her. She is getting the job done. Well done, Speaker Pelosi!
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) muscled a $154 billion jobs bill through the House on Wednesday evening just before Congress departed for a holiday recess. With the vote in serious doubt until seconds before it was gaveled to a close, Pelosi worked the floor furiously, imploring her caucus to stick with her and move the measure through.
The bill passed 217-212, but when the time on the clock expired, it was losing 208-212. A few minutes later, when it hit 214-213 and then 215-213, someone shouted "gavel it!" from the Democratic side. A bill doesn't need the full 218 to pass -- only a simple majority of those voting. The presiding officer took the suggestion and closed the vote.
Not a single Republican approved of the bill.
The slim margin is strong evidence that deficit hawks have momentum in the ideological battle between one camp that demands more spending on job creation and another, dominated by the GOP and Blue Dog Democrats, calling for immediate reductions in the deficit. Even the fact that the money was being redirected from Wall Street couldn't sway 38 Democrats, who voted with the Republicans.
A vote moments earlier Wednesday showed much the same thing: 39 Democrats split with their leadership on a measure to raise the debt ceiling. Lifting the debt limit is a politically un-fun vote for any member of Congress -- and one that has a habit of popping up on TV ads during campaign season -- but is necessary to continue the functioning of the government. It barely passed, 218-214.
The jobs bill would use $75 billion in money earmarked for the Wall Street bailout and redirect it to infrastructure investment and aid to states. The bill also extends the duration of the COBRA subsidy from nine months to 15 months, extends the deadline for eligibility from December 31, 2009 to June 30, 2010, extends by six months unemployment benefits that would have expired at the end of the year, and expands a child tax credit to 16 million families.
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/house-jobs-bill_n_395107.html
source: http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-12-11/stalin-letter-sothebys-auction.html#
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot
/IGiuNetcraft rank: 4543 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment