Reid overrules Baucus, narrows jobs bill focus

[ProSense]

Reid overrules Baucus, narrows jobs bill focus

<...>

Reid said he made the decision to rewrite the bill before meeting with skeptical Democratic colleagues on Thursday afternoon.

Democrats complained the bill did not focus enough on job creation.

“I would prefer a jobs bill that simply focused on job-creating initiatives, this bill has become something more than that,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who led early negotiations to produce a jobs bill, said before the meeting. “Maybe that’s what has to be done in order to get some bipartisan support.”

Reid said he decided to rewrite the legislation to send a clear message to people struggling financially in the midst of the biggest national recession since the Great Depression.

<...>

[gkhouston]

1. Glad to give this a rec. Thumbs up for Reid.

Don't get to say that very often. :hangover:

[AndyA]

2. Do you suppose he's finally found his gonads?

Or has he decided to hell with it, I'm not going to get re-elected, I might as well get some things done before I go...?

Whatever happened, I hope it continues.

And Baucus, what a pile of dung that guy is! :puke:

[Jennicut]

3. Wow. Did Reid actually stand up to someone for once?

I am shocked but pleased.

[pundaint]

28. We'll see when we see his draft, and his firmness in getting it implemented.

Hope, but don't accept words in lieu of signed legislation, and vote accordingly.

[Plucketeer]

42. Heh -

maybe he took to heart, the E-mail I sent him yesterday. At least I'd like to fantacize that he listened to the people once!

[w4rma]

4. Thank goodness. (nt)

[Beetwasher]

5. Ha! Sweet! Fuck You Baucus!

Love it!

[Cha]

24. That would be the overriding

sentiment!:bounce:

[TheKentuckian]

6. He could only corrupt it with so much trash without it imploding

Getting folks to swallow more Patriot Act in return for some marginal tax cuts is already almost a bridge too far without killing more revenue.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. I'm really tired of Baucus

[pleah]

8. K&R

[freddie mertz]

9. Something good from the Senate, for once!

K & R.

[lsewpershad]

10. Senator Reid

If , as it seems, you might be on your way out at least go out fighting.

[Moosepoop]

11. Excellent!! K&R

At least, it's excellent IF the 3-month extension for unemployment benefits is still in there! Hope that didn't get cut!

[Love Bug]

37. Where did you read that about the unemployment extension?

I've been trying to find out what extension (if any) the Senate was planning to include.

Three months is only 13 additional weeks, which is not going to be nearly enough. The House jobs bill included a six month extension -- why is the Senate being so stingy? Do they really think this bill is going to work so fast that 13 is all that's needed?

[Moosepoop]

43. It was in the draft of the bill from the Senate Finance Committee

Yesterday there was a thread about a Washington Post article written by Ezra Klein, in which he railed against the Dems purportedly having agreed to consider estate and gift tax reform in exchange for Repub cooperation on the jobs bill. The article contained a link to the pdf of the Senate Finance Committee's draft of the bill. I opened the pdf and read the bill, and the unemployment extension was in it.

Here's the link to the Washington Post article: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/the_senate_finance_committees.html

and here's the direct link to the pdf of the bill as it existed then: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG%202010/021010%20HIREACT%20draft.pdf

The section dealing with the unemployment extension is Sec. 601, beginning on page 97 of the pdf.

TITLE VI—UNEMPLOYMENT IN15
SURANCE, HEALTH, AND
16 OTHER PROVISIONS
17 Subtitle A—Unemployment
18 Insurance
19 SEC. 601. EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
20 PROVISIONS.
21 (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Section 4007 of the Supple22
mental Appropriations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–252;
23 26 U.S.C. 3304 note) is amended—
24 (A) by striking ‘‘February 28, 2010’’ each place
25 it appears and inserting ‘‘May 31, 2010’’;
98
MAT10103 FINANCE COMMITTEE DRAFT BILL S.L.C.
1 (B) in the heading for subsection (b)(2), by
2 striking ‘‘FEBRUARY 28, 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘MAY,
3 31 2010’’; and
4 (C) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘July 31,
5 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘November 1, 2010’’.
6 (2) Section 2002(e) of the Assistance for Unemployed
7 Workers and Struggling Families Act, as contained in
8 Public Law 111–5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 438),
9 is amended—
10 (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘February
11 28, 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘May 31, 2010’’;
12 (B) in the heading for paragraph (2), by strik13
ing ‘‘FEBRUARY 28, 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘MAY 31,
14 2010’’; and
15 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘August 31,
16 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘November 30, 2010’’.
17 (3) Section 2005 of the Assistance for Unemployed
18 Workers and Struggling Families Act, as contained in
19 Public Law 111–5 (26 U.S.C. 3304 note; 123 Stat. 444),
20 is amended—
21 (A) by striking ‘‘February 28, 2010’’ each place
22 it appears and inserting ‘‘May 31, 2010’’; and
23 (B) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘July 31,
24 2010’’ and inserting ‘‘November 1, 2010’’.
99
MAT10103 FINANCE COMMITTEE DRAFT BILL S.L.C.
1 (4) Section 5 of the Unemployment Compensation
2 Extension Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–449; 26 U.S.C.
3 3304 note) is amended by striking ‘‘July 31, 2010’’ and
4 inserting ‘‘November 1, 2010’’.

I don't know what the reasoning was for only allowing 3 more months instead of the House's six months -- I'm with you in preferring the House version. I don't know if even the 3 months is in the Senate version now, after Reid removed some things. It sounds like he was aiming at removing other types of things, so I'm hopeful that the UIE is still in there. Better yet -- by removing some of the other stuff (which had their own costs), maybe he upped the UIE with the money saved! (Truthfully, I have no idea either way, but that sounds like a good idea to me! ;) )

[Blue Owl]

12. What have they done with the real Senator Reid?

Whatever the case, I like this new guy better.

[Arkana]

13. What did Baucus want to do?

[AllentownJake]

15. Do we really want to know? nt

[Arkana]

16. Well, with his history I'm sure it was something like

"Let's add an amendment allowing CEOs in our respective states to ACTUALLY cornhole us" or something.

[AllentownJake]

17. He should have had his gavel taken away after the HCR debate

I think the Senate Majority leader needs to be given Speaker like powers in the House for things to be more effectively done.

Not that Harry would use them well, but maybe for when Durbin or Schumer are in the position next year.

[wroberts189]

21. Excellent question...There is a suprising lack of details in these news articles on this. nt

[boppers]

22. FTA:

"Baucus had stuffed the bill with many provisions that Democratic senators thought went beyond the goal of creating jobs, such as $31 billion in extensions to expiring tax provisions, including the research and development tax credit. That and other tax cuts were included to win GOP votes.
"

Reid made the bill "cost less" by removing extensions of existing tax cuts. That should make some GOP heads spin a bit, as they claim to want low cost bills, but also claim to want tax cuts.

[old mark]

29. Baucus had packed the old bill with a lot of "extra" stuff, like extending parts

of the Patriot Act, to more GOP personal pork ( Federal subsidies for catfish farmers), tax breaks and higher payments to doctors for medicaid patients. I read that there was so many "extras" in the name of bipartisanship that the Senate Dems could not stomach it (!)
I believe Baucus again lined his pockets-and that much of the old bill was written by lobbyists.

The GOP is now angry because they say that this "one instance" of bipartisanship was taken from them at the last minute.

Harry did good.
Oh, yeah - the White House supported the old bill!!!!
I will have a link to the story I read shortly.

mark

[kenfrequed]

38. If that is the case then good

Rare praise for Harry, who is probably a halfway decent senator but in most circumstances should probably not been put into a leadership position.

Good job Harry.

[Robb]

14. *Harry* Reid??

:rofl: Good on him. :toast:

[The Wizard]

18. After what Baucus did to health care reform

he should have an office in a broom closet, and his job should be floor sweeping. He's a shyster and corporate stooge.

[Phx_Dem]

19. Yea!!! Harry grew a pair!

Now let's see if he can keep them.

[TwilightGardener]

20. Seems if you want a Democratic bill to turn into a heap of twisted, smoldering wreckage, you

put Baucus in charge of it. Hopefully Reid will improve it somehow.

[laughingliberal]

25. a heap of twisted, smoldering, right wing wreckage,at that. nt

[Ed76638]

23. wut?

You mean Reid stood up to the mighty Max Back-us?

[dmr]

26. Reid also pulled out Patriot Act extensions that Baucus included

Reid’s decision to drop a multi-month extension of expiring provisions in the Patriot Act averts a dispute with liberals such as Sen. Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). Baucus included the Patriot Act extension in his proposal.

Leahy said Thursday that he would favor acting on legislation amending the Patriot Act that he has introduced in his committee. Feingold said earlier in the day that he was reviewing Baucus’s proposal.

[vaberella]

45. Nice. n/t

[tomm2thumbs]

27. the Baucus caucus wants to faucus

but he found out which way the winds are blowing

[old mark]

30. Links to several articles on Baucus's bullshit jobs bill -

ABC here: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9815156

NYT here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/us/politics/12cong.html

and the WAPO: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021104716.html?hpid=topnews

Baucus bill was top heavy with junk and pork, totally unrelated stuff-even our Senators could not take it, although our president supported it.

GOPers now whining about the nasty Dems who won't let the 'Publicans participate in government!!!!!

There should be a bounty on Republicans.


mark

[annabanana]

31. kick. . . n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

32. Give 'em Hell Harry!

[DisgustedInMN]

33. I'll wait to see what gets passed BEFORE I get too overjoyed.

Less talk talk, more action action.

[Onlooker]

34. Reid stands up to Republicans and other conservatives, including our weak-kneed president

Good for Reid for standing up to the Republican Party and the White House.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/25638

President Barack Obama supported the original bill along with conservative Republicans in the Senate, a compromise that -- on the surface -- looked like a rare bipartisan package in a Congress sharply divided by partisan fights. To buy support, however, the package ballooned into a 361-page grab bag of pork and political payoffs.

[deacon]

35. Reid did something??? I gotta be dreaming. n/t

[groundloop]

36. OK Harry, now send a clear message to people struggling with health care issues

This is great news, but let's not stop here.

[Fire1]

39. Ok. But what about the concessions (tax breaks to the rich)

to get a "bipartisan" bill? Are these concessions still alive and kicking??

[defendandprotect]

40. We need direct job creation -- not more welfare for corporations -- !!

[mdmc]

41. true

good on harry..

[vaberella]

44. Reid always manages to surprise me. n/t

[robcon]

46. Reid is a coward.

Reminds me of Daschle, the senate leader, when his seat was in jeopardy.