Update x3: With Karl Rove WSJ quote. Quote from Senator Collins’ blog. Kudos to Senator Collins.
We needed sixty votes for the stimulus bill and because the Republicans were not acting in a bipartisan fashion we had to deal with three moderate Republican Senators. One of the things that was stripped out of the House stimulus package was pandemic flu protection. The reason why they opposed this was because this was not “economic stimulus”. The problem is that if you need to aggressively quarantine a pandemic — which might now happen with the Swine Flu — a fragile economy becomes even more so, particularly with people losing their health care coverage. Here’s Senator Susan Collins on this in February.
Senator Collins bragged on her ability to cut this from the stimulus in her blog. Cutting flu pandemic protection is the warp and woof of a “bipartisan bill”.
The target grew out of discussions among a group of moderate Republicans, led by Sen. Collins, aimed at reining in costs and better targeting federal funds toward job creation. The effort amounts to “rebuilding” the Obama package, according to an individual familiar with the talks. The package would include tax cuts and investments intended to create jobs, such as infrastructure projects, but it would step back from spending projects that don’t immediately lift the sagging U.S. economy.
After meeting with Mr. Obama, Sen. Collins expressed concern about a number of spending provisions, including $780 million for pandemic-flu preparedness. “I have no doubt that the president is willing to negotiate in good faith, that he wants to have a bipartisan bill,” Sen. Collins said.
Now secessionist Governor Rick Perry wants the socialist Federal government, taxing already stretched resources:
Austin — Gov. Rick Perry today in a precautionary measure requested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide 37,430 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile to Texas to prevent the spread of swine flu. Currently, three cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Texas.
Karl Rove said the folowing in the WSJ on February 5, 2009.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama attacked “trickle down economics” as “bankrupt” and an “old, discredited” philosophy that “didn’t work.” He was wrong. Even worse, though, is that he and congressional Democrats are embracing a Democratic version of trickle-down economics that won’t work.
It’s embodied in the House-passed “stimulus” bill, H.R. 1, whose deeply flawed assumption is that spending $1 trillion to grow government will trickle down to help people who lost jobs. The Democrats’ spending is horribly mismatched with industries that have suffered job loss.
Since December 2007, Americans lost 791,000 jobs in manufacturing, 681,000 jobs in professional and business services, 632,000 jobs in construction, 522,000 jobs in retail, 167,000 jobs in hospitality, and 576,000 jobs in the rest of the service industry. It would be logical for policy makers to focus on job creation in these sectors.
Instead, Democrats want to spend $88 billion to increase the federal share of Medicaid. What American will be hired by a small business, factory, retail shop, hotel, restaurant or service company because of this spending? The answer is very few.
In H.R. 1, there’s $41 billion set aside for school districts, $1.5 billion for university research grants, $2 billion for Energy Department labs, and $3 billion for the National Science Foundation. Yet education is one of the few sectors that added jobs last year.
There’s also $4 billion for health programs like obesity control and smoking cessation, $2 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $462 million for the Centers for Disease Control, and $900 million for pandemic flu preparations. Health care also added jobs last year.
It is not surprising that the stimulus package is laden with new spending programs. Congressional appropriators, not job creators, wrote H.R. 1. Much of it is spending Democrats couldn’t get approved in the normal course of affairs. And it should not shock Americans that Democratic appropriators would funnel tax dollars to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, unions and other liberal special interests. Putting budgets of political allies above the budgets of struggling families is apparently the new Democratic trickle-down economics.
Since I gave her criticism, I want to give Senator Collins some well-deserved kudos. Given the Swine Flu emergency it is vital that we have an HHS head now. Some Republicans are blocking Governor Sabelius’ nomination. Senator Collins today called for an expedited confirmation. Kudos.
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Kyle, I don’t see what your problem is. From the beginning I gave Senator Collins a fair hearing and stated exactly why she opposed it. I also stated the opposition to this came from moderate and not conservative Republicans. At least the moderates were trying to improve the bill by their lights and not being the party of no like their conservative colleagues. The moderates were not being obstructionists. They voted for the bill and in the Senate they ran the show. Specter used his influence to increase cancer research funding. The real obstruction is the Sebelius filibuster and Senator Collins has nothing to do with that.
Apparently my response didn’t post, so I’ll type it out again. This is a non-issue, and you are better than this @rblinne. To make it look like the mean old obstructionist GOP stopped a brillian Democrat plan is just not honest. The Democrats had the power to force anything through, if it was important to them.
It wasn’t important to them. Chuck Schumer said ““All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out.” Obviously this was just a “porky” item on the list of earmarks to the Democrat leadership. http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082009/news/nationalnews/angry_gop_lets_off_team_ulus_154056.htm
Second, and I just found this after some research, the plan got funded anyways in the omnibus appropriations bill–where it belonged. It was in no way a “stimulating” measure and had no place being in a “stimulus” bill, as Senator Collins rightfully said. The plan has been funded, so where is your beef? http://www.sunjournal.com/story/314585-3/National/Collins_defends_move_to_eliminate_flu_funds_from_stimulus/
This is the danger of just repeating Huffington Post headlines. If something sounds too shocking to believe, and paints the Republicans to look like monsters, there is probably more to the story. This story NEVER smelled right. It was just fodder for liberal bloggers, and they’ve been eating it up all day.
The Republicans haven’t stuck with their principles since Bush was elected–they have been spending like crazy.
My main point is that this whole post is nothing more than alarmist finger pointing. At the time, even Chuck Schumer stated about the bill: “All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,” http://www.nypost.com/seven/02082009/news/nationalnews/angry_gop_lets_off_team_ulus_154056.htm
Besides, though the HuffingtonPost and DailyKos won’t admit it, the pandemic flu program was funded anyways–in the omnibus appropriations spending bill, where it belonged. So, where’s the beef? She rightly asserted that it wasn’t stimulus and didn’t belong in the bill (even though most of the stimulus bill isn’t actually stimulus), Democrats agreed, so it was later passed in a spending bill. http://www.sunjournal.com/story/314585-3/National/Collins_defends_move_to_eliminate_flu_funds_from_stimulus/
What is the actual problem here?
What I mean by functional opposition is that it exists. I argued with my fellow Republicans in 2006 and they stuck to their principles (and lost). Again in 2008 (and they lost more). You say you believe in split government but if conservatives keep going in the way you espouse our government won’t be split at all unless you count factions within the Democratic party.
I don’t understand what facts you are looking for? The Democrats chose which concessions to make, and this was the largest one–so Collins took credit for it. Those are facts.
To your second point. I am a big proponent of split government–Reagan and Clinton were dream scenarios. To think that Republicans just going along with these “stimulus” and spending bills results in a “functional opposition” is absurd. I can’t even figure out the reasoning behind it. Capitulating to the controlling party that can already do whatever it wants is opposition?
I and most conservatives believe that “stimulus” and massive government spending during a recession, taking majority stake in banks and now GM, and so on are dangerous to the future of the country. I applaud the fact that Republicans have finally found their way and are standing for their principles. I hope they stand united and vote 100% against any continued recklessness.
In terms of effectiveness Collins, Snowe, and Specter accomplished much more than any other Republicans in Washington. They got a lot of concessions out of the Democrats. Ordinarily this would just be the normal “sausage making” of legislation. Compromises produce unintended consequences and the compromise crafted clearly weakened the bill. The choice was a deeply damaged bill or none at all and the correct choice was taken. While I fault Senator Collins for proposing this and carrying Karl Rove’s water at least she voted for the stimulus.
From a political perspective the Republicans have been stuck on stupid. Instead of embracing the three moderates they tossed them over the side. e.g. an almost certain primarying of Specter. They’re giving Obama a freebee. You need a functional opposition party in order to have a semblance of fiscal discipline like the Republicans did under Bill Clinton. The result was a budget surplus.
The self-immolation of the Republicans while making it easier for Obama to pass his agenda is not a good thing. Most Democrats I talk to also agree. A de facto one party state is not good for this country. As much as I have been critical of Senator Collins the Republicans can do a whole lot worse than following her lead.
This is what Susan Collins said on her blog, Kyle:
So, it seems you’re doing a whole bunch of speculating. Susan Collins took credit for this. Do you have any like, uh, facts?
@rblinne I doubt that $850 million dollars was the thing holding the stimulus bill back? Here is a more likely scenario: The Republicans presented a laundry list of things they wanted removed, and the Democrats chose the items that were lowest on their list of priorities and removed them, in order to “throw a bone” to the Republicans.
The Democrats could have easily scrapped other programs. They could have scrapped the $3 billion earmarked for community organization groups instead, they could have scrapped the billions set aside for research into endangered species/habitats, they could have scrapped the $246 million for motion picture film subsidies, they could have scrapped the $248 million for furniture at the new $250 million DHS headquarters, they could have scrapped the $1 billion allocated to helping move the Census to the White House, they could have scrapped the $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” the $850 million for Amtrak, or the others hundreds of issues which were objected to by the Republicans. But the Democrats (who have all the power) removed the pandemic flu measure.
Let’s face it, the stimulus bill is 100% the creation and product of the Democratic party. Stop acting like the Republicans had anything to do with the final product.
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