CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
Feb. 5, 2009 – 10:24 p.m.
Moderates Close to Stimulus Deal
By Joseph J. Schatz and David Clarke, CQ Staff
Senate moderates searched for a compromise late Thursday that would pare back the economic stimulus toward $800 billion and allow them to support a popular new president while addressing widespread concerns about the size and scope of the package.
Key Democratic moderates said late Thursday that they were close to a deal that would win support from a small group of GOP centrists and perhaps give the package enough votes to pass.
With new unemployment figures expected Friday and patience on both sides of the aisle wearing thin, the talk of broad bipartisanship that surrounded early stimulus discussions had vanished as Senate Democratic leaders struggled to secure a bare minimum of Republican support needed to get 60 votes and send the bill (
Recalling earlier predictions of garnering as many as 80 votes in the Senate for President Obama’s legislative effort, Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y., said, “That’s a distant memory.”
Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., wants to move to a final vote Friday and expressed cautious optimism that an amendment being crafted by the bipartisan group of moderates would win at least the two to three GOP votes needed to ensure final passage.
If it becomes clear Friday that senators are “spinning our wheels,” Reid said he would file a cloture motion to cut off debate, setting up a vote Feb. 8, a Sunday.
Claire McCaskill , D-Mo., said moderates were still trying to come to agreement among themselves. “We’re close, we’re close, we’re close,” she said, adding that an emerging figure for spending cuts is about $107 billion. “So you try to please some people with the amount, and then there’s people who don’t like the composition. So you try to fix the composition, and then someone doesn’t like the amount.
“The bottom line is, if we finish this up, we will get almost everyone in the group,” McCaskill said. “We don’t have to have every single Republican we’ve been talking to. But we have to have most of them.” About eight Republicans participated in the discussion.
Mary L. Landrieu , D-La., said that negotiations were beginning to fall apart before Senate leaders showed “appreciation” for the moderates’ effort. “It went from going south about two hours ago to coming up,” she said late Thursday. “It’s still got life. It’s still breathing.”
Throughout Thursday’s debate, which saw multiple GOP amendments fall by large margins, Republican conservatives — including 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — warned that public opinion was turning against the Democratic-authored proposal, which is now approaching $940 billion in tax cuts and spending.
Obama told reporters Thursday that he preferred a package in the $800 billion range.
Earlier Thursday, Reid said he wanted to complete work on the bill by the end of the day and was willing to set a 60-vote threshold for passage to forestall a possible filibuster attempt by Republicans.
House and Senate leaders want to begin bicameral negotiations on the stimulus — the House passed its package last week — and get a final product to Obama by the end of next week.
With Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., out of town and unlikely to be in the Capitol for a vote, Reid will likely need three Republican votes. “I would say to the majority leader, his success depends on the success of this [moderate] group,” said Susan Collins , R‑Maine, a leader of the effort to find a compromise.
Reid said Obama asked him to work with the moderates. Three members of the bloc — McCaskill, Ben Nelson , D-Neb., and Joseph I. Lieberman , I-Conn. — met with Reid for about 20 minutes Thursday.
“The biggest hang-up is not just the size of the package, although that remains . . . a concern, but also certain parts of it that many still don’t think are stimulative,” Nelson said. “And you can’t take everything out of it and leave it just infrastructure.” He indicated that the group had proposed cuts to education spending and shifting more money to infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, some conservatives, including Michael B. Enzi , R-Wyo., said they wanted to offer additional amendments and would not yet consent to a final vote.
Budget Chairman Kent Conrad , D-N.D., also said it is increasingly likely that moderates will seek assurances from Democratic leaders and Obama that the bill’s spending will be pared down in conference, rather than on the Senate floor.
Harder Lines
Despite all the maneuvering, Reid cautioned that senators should not expect drastic changes to the bill. “If they think they are going to rewrite this bill . . . they’ve got another thought coming,” Reid said.
Obama also took a less compromising tone on the stimulus than he had earlier this week. “The time for talk is over,” he said during an appearance at the Energy Department to tout elements of the plan that affect the energy sector.
A group of at least 15 Republican and Democratic senators, organized by Collins and Nelson, gathered Thursday morning to discuss what spending should be cut from the bill and whether more funding should be shifted to infrastructure projects.
Senators in the meeting said they were focusing on items they believe are not stimulative and should be considered through the regular legislative process. For instance, the group agreed that $870 million for preparing and responding to an influenza pandemic should be dropped.
Conrad said all spending in the plan that would last beyond 2010 should be reviewed, though he thought some “would still pass muster because they qualify as investment to strengthen America’s long-term competitive position.”
“It’s also very important that we reallocate some of the money . . . for things of higher priority, specifically housing,” Conrad said, adding he would be offering an amendment with Lindsey Graham , R-S.C., to shift about $25 billion toward a foreclosure mitigation program proposed by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairwoman Sheila C. Bair .
George V. Voinovich , R-Ohio, suggested that some of the money shorn from the stimulus could end up in the omnibus containing the nine regular spending bills for fiscal 2009 that have yet to be approved.
Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., didn’t endorse or reject the moderates’ approach, noting that they have yet to unveil any details. But he warned against cutting as large an amount of funding from the bill as many Republicans are proposing.
“If we’re going to toss a teacup of water on this fire today, we’ll be back with fire trucks in the months to come,” Durbin said.
Conservative Democrats in the House were taking inspiration from the austerity effort in the Senate. Leaders of the 50-member Blue Dog Coalition wrote House Democratic leaders and urged a “redoubled effort” to scrub the bill of non-stimulative provisions, saying the Senate moderates were pursuing a “highly worthwhile goal.”
But a top House Republican offered a biting critique of the effort.
“While the bipartisan attempt at cutting this humongous bill should be commended, I fail to see how shaving $70 or $80 billion off an almost-trillion-dollar package will vastly improve the bill. This legislation needs a total buzz cut . . . not just a little off the top,” said Jerry Lewis of California, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.
Amendment Votes
The Senate again worked from morning to night on a stack of amendments.
On a 40-57 vote, senators upheld a budget point of order against a $421 billion substitute amendment from McCain that included $275 billion in individual and corporate tax reductions, along with $50 billion in spending on entitlement programs, $32 billion in spending and tax breaks aimed at stimulating the housing market, and $64 billion in infrastructure investments.
Senators voted, 32-65, to reject an amendment from Russ Feingold , D-Wis., that would create a new point of order against unauthorized earmarks in spending bills. The stimulus bill does not contain earmarks in the traditional sense, but opponents of these parochial projects believe it is time to push the issue as concerns grow about how to handle the deficit and what spending is worthwhile.
The Senate adopted, by voice vote, an amendment from Banking Chairman Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., that would prohibit bonuses and other incentives for at least the 25 most highly paid executives at firms that are receiving bailout funds from the Treasury Department. It would require Treasury to conduct a retroactive review of bonuses given out by these firms.
Senators adopted by voice vote an amendment from McCaskill that would impose a $400,000 salary cap on officers and directors at firms receiving bailout funding.
It also rejected, 35-62, a substitute amendment from John Ensign , R-Nev., that would have the government guarantee a 30-year interest rate of 4 percent to 4.5 percent for refinanced mortgages of $750,000 or less.
Richard Rubin, Paul M. Krawzak, Kathleen Hunter, Lydia Gensheimer and Catharine Richert contributed to this story.
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