More Silver Lining Around Porkapalooza

After sleeping on the passing of the Generational Theft Act/Porkapalooza bill, there are a couple other bits of silver lining that should be highlighted.

E-Verify

The House version of the "stimulus," monstrous though it is, at least retains the requirement that recipients of its funds be enrolled in E-Verify, so as to screen out illegals. On the other hand, at the request of the open-borders U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Obama Administration has postponed, for the second time, implementation of the rule that existing federal contractors be enrolled in E-Verify. The explicit goal is to kill the rule; in the words of the Chamber's spokesman, "We are hopeful that the incoming administration will agree that E-Verify is the wrong solution at the wrong time." The curious argument is that businesses shouldn't be asked to check that illegals not be hired because they're already under a lot of stress as it is; in other words, illegal aliens should be permitted to take jobs even though unemployment is at its highest level in a generation.

That's great news, but it could still be amended out in the Senate version, or squeezed out in the House/Senate committee.  Still, we'll take what we can get.

Boehner
House Minority Leader John Boehner put out this statement that makes a very important point:

"This was a bipartisan rejection of a partisan bill.  Families and small businesses across America are struggling, and they are counting on their leaders in Washington for ways to strengthen our economy.  House Republicans want to work with congressional Democrats on legislation that fulfills the goal set by President Obama: crafting a bipartisan plan focused on job creation.  Unfortunately, the trillion dollar government spending bill before the House today was not that plan, and a bipartisan coalition of Members rightfully rejected it.  It is time for Capitol Hill Democrats to finally work with Republicans on a job creation package that lets families and small businesses keep more of what they earn and that is supported by the bipartisan majority that the American people expect on an issue so important."

NOTE: No House Republicans voted for the legislation, while eleven Democrats crossed party lines to vote against it.  Earlier today on the House floor, Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Ways & Means Committee Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI) offered a House GOP economic recovery plan that will create 6.2 million new American jobs over the next two years, according to a methodology used by President Obama's own nominee as Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, Dr. Christina Romer.  House Democrats rejected the plan.

Good stuff.  You know my thoughts on bipartisanship, but this time it actually worked because there was a principled stance on unchanging conservative core principles.  Amazing how it always works out that way, isn't it?  Standing firm on good core principles is a sign of leadership, and that is what people want.  It's great that a handful of Democrats saw the light.  Too bad the media is ignoring it completely, and framing it as the GOP being a bunch of complainers and obstructionists.  As usual, they've missed (or ignored) not only a majority of the important facts in this situation, but also the biggest point to be understood here: there was a bipartisan effort on this bill, and it was the opposition to it.  The Democrats were the ones who showed the partisan tendency here.

And that partisan attitude permeated the entire process from start to finish:

It's no big victory; passage of anything with the numbers Obama has in Congress should be assured.  In fact, it's something of a defeat for Obama, as he lobbied heavily for Republican votes on this package.  Obama met three times with Republican leadership, received warmly each time and even posing for pictures with some of them.  Not only did he fail to gain a single GOP vote, he lost 11 Democrats in the House.

Republicans had no investment in this bill, and the blame for that falls squarely on Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  While Obama met three times with Republican leadership, she refused to meet with her counterparts at all to negotiate on the stimulus.  Her high-handed approach lost Obama any potential Republican support he might have gained as she attempted to stuff a Democrats-only bill down Republican throats.  That's an odd position to take on something supposedly so important that it required everyone's support.  It also reveals the real partisan in House leadership.

While there will be more damage done by this Democrat majority, it is truly a good sign that the GOP is finally getting their act together.  Let's give them support and keep them on the straight and narrow path.  Good things will come of it if they keep it together.

The Senate battle will heat up soon, so stay tuned and check back regularly.

There's my two cents.