With zero Republican votes in favor. Elections have consequences.

Next up: the Senate.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

9 replies on “House Approves the Federal Stimulus Bill”

  1. Yes, elections do have consequences:

    A German sovereign bond auction failed yesterday amid growing danger signs for governments as they attempt to raise record amounts of debt to pay for fiscal stimulus packages and bank bail-outs, writes David Oakley .

    It was the second successive failure this year of a 10-year Bund auction – usually one of the most sought-after – as demand fell 20 per cent short of the €6bn (£5.4bn)the German government wanted.

    link

  2. This is probably the most passive-aggressive tactic I have ever seen the Republicans use. It is also so obviously contrived and poorly timed

    They recognize the president’s is popularity, and that going directly and publicly against him would make them look bad. However, if they stand firmly against their Democratic peers, who have had bad poll ratings for a long time, then they would have a better shot at gaining the sympathy of the people.

    They are essentially saying ‘See, we don’t trust congress either’ instead of what they are obviously thinking which is more like ‘Fuck you Obama! We’ve been getting our way since our Contract with (on) America and we aren’t giving this up without a fight.’

  3. It’s pure CYA political posturing on their part. They KNOW they can’t stop the bill from passing, not with a few sensible GOP Senators ensuring it can’t be filibustered, so, rather than be part of the solution, they look instead toward making sure they don’t unduly piss off their electoral base (many of whom will, ironically, be benefiting from the programs and tax breaks included in the bill).

    If the Stimulus Plan does go “kablooey!”, well then they were right, and they won’t be blamed for its failure. If it does what it’s intended to do, they know their base will still vote for them, even if they opposed it in the first place. And come the 2010 election cycle, assuming any of them have serious Democratic competition, they’ll just spin it around to look like they were in favor of it all along, because they know most of their supporters have the attention spans of fruit flies, and FOX/Hannity/Rush et al will have their backs besides.

    So, in the short-term it’s a win-win for House Repugs, at least in so far as their chances of being re-elected are concerned. And really, that’s ALL they care about at this point.

  4. By my count Reichert hasn’t voted for a single stimulus plan. He voted against the bank bailout (perhaps a good vote), and against the people bailout (perhaps a bad vote).

    Whatever he is he certainly isn’t for doing much of anything.

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