Stimulus Plan Meets More GOP Resistance

As I have commented before, the GOP seems Hell bent on driving the nation into another Great Depression not being content with the damage done to date by the thankfully finished regime of the Chimperator. The GOP apparently learned nothing from the administration of Herbert Hoover which had a similar mindset - and disastrous results for the country. Rather than contribute anything positive or proposing constructive programs, the GOP seems focused solely on screwing the Democrats with no cares at all as to the damage their games may cause to the country. Once again, it is hard to believe that the GOP once actually had some positive ideas. In my opinion, the Democrats need to forge ahead without GOP support and when the programs prove effective hang the GOP obstructionist tactics around the necks of the GOP members of Congress. The nation wants Obama and the Democrats to deliver change and they need to do so. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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Just days after taking office vowing to end the political era of "petty grievances," President Obama ran into mounting GOP opposition yesterday to an economic stimulus plan that he had hoped would receive broad bipartisan support. Republicans accused Democrats of abandoning the new president's pledge, ignoring his call for bipartisan comity and shutting them out of the process by writing the $850 billion legislation.

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The first drafts of the plan would result in more spending on favored Democratic agenda items, such as federal funding of the arts, they said, but would do little to stimulate the ailing economy.
The GOP's shrunken numbers, particularly in the Senate, will make it difficult for Republicans to stop the stimulus bill, but the growing GOP doubts mean that Obama's first major initiative could be passed on a largely party-line vote -- little different from the past 16 years of partisan sniping in the Clinton and Bush eras.

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As House panels considered the $850 billion legislation this week, no Republicans from the Appropriations or Ways and Means committees supported it. Pelosi said she would bring the bill to the full House by Wednesday, regardless of whether the Cantor group has met with Obama by then.

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Republicans hold 41 Senate seats, requiring total unity to block the stimulus plan by a filibuster. Democrats and Republicans have said that at least a few GOP senators will probably back the economic recovery plan because the financial crisis has become so grave. But some key Democrats are pushing to add pieces that would result in fewer Republican votes.

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Pelosi and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the Senate, support including changes to bankruptcy laws that would allow judges to modify loans on primary residences, which they say would help alleviate the housing crisis. Republicans and the banking industry have vehemently opposed this because it might cause mortgage interest rates to rise.
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Obama would not be the first president to promise a bipartisan tone and find a much different attitude on Capitol Hill. Democrats chafed under the iron-fist rule of Republicans for most of 1995 to 2007, during which the toughest tactics were deployed after George W. Bush took office promising to be a "uniter, not a divider."

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Some Democrats said the goal should be passing legislation that deals with the largest financial crisis in 70 years, with or without much Republican support. "If it's passed with 63 votes or 73 votes, history won't remember it," Durbin said.