Someone to love
As speaker, Nancy Pelosi adheres to the "ABCD" principle: "always be cutting deals."
They say Republicans fall in line, while Democrats fall in love. Well, Democrats who have been dispirited by the capitulations of the Obama White House and the weasily vibe of Senate “conservadems” yet have a handful of folks they can adore: from sharp tongued Alan Grayson and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, to Bernie Sanders, to the reignited Howard Dean (all of whom are loved more because they are so despised by the other side.) But no one gets it done like Nancy, most recently, on jobs.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) muscled a $154 billion jobs bill through the House on Wednesday evening just before Congress departed for a holiday recess. With the vote in serious doubt until seconds before it was gaveled to a close, Pelosi worked the floor furiously, imploring her caucus to stick with her and move the measure through.
The bill passed 217-212, but when the time on the clock expired, it was losing 208-212. A few minutes later, when it hit 214-213 and then 215-213, someone shouted “gavel it!” from the Democratic side. A bill doesn’t need the full 218 to pass — only a simple majority of those voting. The presiding officer took the suggestion and closed the vote.
Not a single Republican approved of the bill.
The slim margin is strong evidence that deficit hawks have momentum in the ideological battle between one camp that demands more spending on job creation and another, dominated by the GOP and Blue Dog Democrats, calling for immediate reductions in the deficit. Even the fact that the money was being redirected from Wall Street couldn’t sway 38 Democrats, who voted with the Republicans.
No matter. The bill went through and will move $75 billion in TARP money from the bankers to the builders — funding infrastructure projects and aid to states. Nice move, Nancy. Harry Reid: do take notes.
Now, it should be said that there is a legitimate argument to be had as to whether conservative Democrats serve an important purpose in the party, making for geographic diversity and staying the hand of free-spending liberals. However, with the coda about to be put on the first year of regained Democratic control of Washington, the cat herding is becoming so ugly, it’s starting to look like the party can’t govern. And the blatant peaens to corporate sponsors just look bad. Not that a Republican-controlled Congress would be much better — just different paymasters (defense contractors, big business, corporate tax shelters, etc.) But Democrats were given a mandate for change, starting in 2006, and right now, the change Americans want is a downward shift in the unemployment rate. Stat. Anything but that strikes me as a grave political mistake. Meanwhile, deficit reduction is the priority of a minority of folks who spend their lives caring about the deficit. Pelosi is astute to realize that jobs are priority one, two, three, and google.
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