UPDATE 2/10/09 at 11:55 a.m. Central: The U.S. Senate just passed the now-$838 billion “economic stimulus plan by a vote of 61-37. It now moves to a conference committee where members of both the House and Senate will iron out their differences over the bill before voting on it again and, presumably, forwarding it to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
In a cloture vote of 61-36, the U.S. Senate voted today in favor of the so-called “economic stimulus package,” a measure that will cost taxpayers nearly one trillion dollars.
By passing the pork-laden measure, members of the Democrat-controlled body have, in effect, voted in favor of raising the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages, according to a Bloomberg report today.
Now, the measure – which has grown to $837 billion, according to an update from the Congressional Budget Office — moves to a conference committee where members of both the House and Senate will iron out their differences over the bill before voting on it again and, presumably, forwarding it to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Suggestions4Obama.com // Feb 9, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I do not understand why people are having problem realizing the urgency to get this bill approved. The number of unemployed people (11.6 million) and the unemployment rate (7.6 percent) rose in January. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 4.1 million. The Department of Labor reported today that nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January (-598,000) and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent. Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007, …. most of this mess happening only in past three months! And some wonder Obama is pushing so hard for a stimulus package. Is the Herbert Hoover approach, do nothing, all we need, leading us to a twelve year depression ??
2 hotoffthepress2 // Feb 9, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Suggestions — You don’t have a clue.
3 Reggie Greene / The Logistician // Feb 10, 2009 at 7:41 am
We were just thinking this morning – the mere fact that there has developed an “expectation” that government should address any of our concerns in society is a notion which we should examine carefully. Consider the different reasons for the development of this expectation:
(a) Government does it best;
(b) Government is the only way it can be done;
(c) We abdicated our personal responsibility to handle our own affairs;
(d) By having government do it, we achieve efficiencies which can not be matched individually; and
(e) We pay so much in taxes that we want something of value for our money, and as the amount of taxes paid increases, we expect more for our money.
Some would argue that what we are witnessing in Congress at this point in time is exactly why government should not be allowed to do anything in our society other than those absolutely essential services which can not be provided by the private or non-profit sectors. It is difficult to run any organization, or accomplish any large task, by committee, unless all of the members share the same goals and values. That is obviously not the case with government. We, as a society, have grown to expect the government to perform certain functions; but shouldn’t we be trying to gradually reduce the number of services provided by government, particularly because politicians are intimately connected therewith?
4 hotoffthepress2 // Feb 10, 2009 at 7:49 am
Reggie — You’re right! We should be trying to gradually reduce the number of services provided by government. because, as President Ronald Reagan once said, “Government IS the problem!”
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