President Obama and Democratic leaders are abandoning plans to put new spending and taxes back into the fiscal stimulus plan in conference committee, in the face of warnings from three GOP senators that they would pull back their support if the negotiated version of the deal is loaded down with more pork.
Faced with the possible embarrassment of a Senate filibuster over the revised bill now making its way through negotiations, Democrats reportedly have settled for a stimulus bill in the neighborhood of $790 billion – very close to the bottom line number specified by key Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
Specter joined Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine, to support the $838 billion package passed by a surprisingly narrow 61-37 vote Tuesday. He then issued a terse, one-sentence statement on the negotiations.
“My support for the conference report on the stimulus package will require that the Senate compromise bill come back virtually intact including, but not limited to, overall spending, the current ratio of tax cuts to spending, and the $110 billion in cuts,” he stated.
Specter followed that up with an appearance on Chris Matthews “Hardball” show, where he stated, “If somebody wants to restructure the arrangement, they may end up with no arrangement at all.”
Collins also said she would not vote for any bill over $790 billion.
“The Senate moderates run the show right now, and they're insisting on maintaining most if not all of the tax cuts,” Newsmax contributing editor John Mercurio reported Wednesday.
Specter’s tough bottom line provoked howls of protest from Democratic leaders, who said it was unfair for three GOP moderates to hold the stimulus package hostage — even as they held closed-door meetings on how to reconcile the bills without Republican input.
“I’m shocked that . . . any senator of any party would say, ‘This is the bill we passed, take it or leave it,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told RollCall.com. “Those ought to be subject to discussion.”
Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and negotiators reportedly huddled behind closed doors with Democratic leaders and negotiators late into the night Tuesday, to work out what they want to see in the final package.
Differences being resolved between the House and Senate bills:
Only about a third of the House bill involves tax cuts, compared with about 42 percent of the Senate bill, sources say. The cost of the House bill has been estimated at $819, not including the more than $330 billion in debt service to pay for it. The negotiated bill reportedly would be about $790 billion.The White House and Democratic economists wanted to cut out a $70 billion provision in the Senate version that would shield taxpayers from automatic increases in the Alternative Minimum Tax. It appears they will fail.Emanuel made it clear the president wanted spending programs added in, especially for school construction, at the cost of tax breaks. The Associated Press reports some of that funding will be restored. Speaker Nancy Pelosi would like more money to “green” federal buildings, money for the development of health-information technology, extended health benefits, and the refundable child tax credit, Cqpolitics.com reports. She is reportedly backing down on most of those demands, however. Democrats wanted to toss out an expansion of the tax break given to homebuyers that the Senate approved. They wanted to reduce a tax break in the Senate version for new car buyers.Specter’s warning may have been intended for Pelosi, who initially said the compromise over the stimulus package would involved much more than splitting the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill, implying the removal of tax breaks and the addition of new spending programs. Later she softened her position.
Congressional expert Don Wolfensberger, who directs the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told Newsmax Wednesday morning that Democrats appeared to have “frozen out” Republicans from the negotiations.
He said a GOP Senate filibuster over the compromise bill remained “a very real possibility.”
Sen. Republican leaders continue to lambast the package. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. R-Ky., said it is “full of waste” and “an enormous risk with other people’s money.”
Democratic leaders hope to get a compromise bill on Obama’s desk this week, but some are saying the process could easily drag into next week.
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