The U.S. House of Representatives passed the $819 billion economic recovery plan yesterday–without a single Republican vote. That’s right. Even though President Obama reached out to them a number of times in a spirit of bipartisanship (and agreed to add the tax cuts they wanted), not one Republican voted for the plan. Apparently, they don’t care that Americans favor the stimulus plan. Economists too.
The reality is the Republicans would rather play politics and they are trying to use fiscal discipline as their excuse for opposition. Please. These are the same guys who oversaw a doubling of the national debt while Bush was in office! More than anything the Republicans are worried that if the stimulus helps us get out of this crisis and it creates jobs, it will serve as proof that the Democrats are better stewards of the economy—and that, of course, will affect their electoral chances for the midterm elections in 2010.
The Senate takes up its version of the stimulus bill next week. With it's large Democrat majority, the bill is expected to pass and make its way to President Obama's desk in mid-February.
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