Quick Theft/Porkapalooza Update #2

The Democrats know that if they don't pass this dog now, it's not going to pass at all, so they're rushing things through prematurely:

President Barack Obama fired the sharpest warning of his young presidency at Republicans who are mustered against his $900-billion stimulus plan for the plunging economy.

But he showed the first sign of impatience Wednesday, bringing up twice what Democrats say are discredited economic policies of president George W. Bush, which they contend helped cause the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.

He took aim at the "notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems" and warned against the idea that the economic crisis could be tackled with "half steps, and piecemeal measures and tinkering around the edges."

There's that good ol' bipartisanship you talked so much about before the election!

Liberal tactics at their vile best:

A Senate staffer sends the following info to illuminate how the most deliberative body in the world is short-circuiting debate on the Generational Theft Act of 2009.

I repeat what Sen. Coburn said on the Senate floor: "Hurry up is what got us into trouble in the first place."

Just to give everyone a snapshot of the real debate that has occurred on the largest spending bill in history, as of 2pm today:

* 315 amendments have been filed
* 20 amendments have been considered
* 9 amendments have been adopted
* 11 amendments were rejected
* 14 are currently pending

This is a 736 page senate bill, rushed through committee with no hearings, and could pass after being on the floor for less than one week.

Based on where we are today, about 90% of the more than 300 amendments have not received consideration.

The only way Democrats can get their agendas rammed through are by short-circuiting the process like this.  The previously proposed debate time was about two weeks; they shortened it to three days.  They promised transparency and debate; they gave us strong-arm tactics and hysteria.  These are your Democrat leaders, and if they get this thing pushed through, they will have successfully entrenched themselves in power in a way that we haven't seen in decades.

I guess that may be why the emotions are running high on this thing.  Sen. Graham called out Obama, saying that "scaring people is not leadership".  It's a bit of a surprise coming from him (normally a soft-spoken guy, not much of a fighter), but it illustrates that there may yet be hope for some additional opposition in surprising places.  Similarly, McCain, who was supposed to be one of Obama's best compromise agents in the Senate, has come out hard against this bill (as he should have...where was this stance in the campaign?).

Obama is right to rush things, though - there is almost no support for this bill outside of Washington, DC and liberal circles.  The phone lines are burning up and constantly clogged with people calling to complain about it; I heard one Senator say that they're running over 90% against the bill.

Amazingly, the Congressional Budget Office has released a new statement saying that the Theft/Pork bill will actually harm the economy:

President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.

CBO estimates that by 2019 the Senate legislation would reduce GDP by 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent on net. [The House bill] would have similar long-run effects, CBO said in a letter to Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, who was tapped by Mr. Obama on Tuesday to be Commerce Secretary.

This is no shock to anyone with their eyes more than halfway open on this thing, but it's nice to see the non-partisan official group agree.

So, where do things stand?  Sources are leaking that Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid says he has two Reps on board, and Susan Collins of Maine has confirmed she's one of them.  No one's sure about the other, or if there is another.  I would normally say Reid wouldn't push so hard for something this important without being sure of its passage, but with each hour it's going to be harder to get it to pass.

It's going to come down to the wire, I think.  I heard on the radio this morning that there are even some Democrats who aren't happy about the bill in its current form, which could make for an interesting photo finish.  I'm not sure when the actual vote will take place, but it'll be sometime later today.

Keep those calls rolling in - if you can't get through to the Washington number, find a number for your Senator's local office and call that.  They've got to get the message in no uncertain terms!

There's my two cents.



Sources:
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_rejects_GOP_theory/2009/02/05/178661.html?s=al&promo_code=7983-1
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/05/alert-who-are-the-senate-gop-wobblers/
http://minx.cc/?post=282412
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/05/graham-goes-nuclear-on-obama-over-stimulus-scaring-people-is-not-leadership/
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/05/so-much-for-the-most-deliberative-body-in-the-world/