Senate Overcomes Republican Jobs Bill Filibuster

I'm finding it harder and harder to trust what comes out of the White House. Obama's big wet kiss aimed at the GOP yesterday on healthcare reform was very frustrating and made me more eager than ever to put my efforts behind helping elect Better Democrats and ignoring the whole idea of "More Democrats." More Democrats doesn't seem to be the answer. What we need are more like Raul Grijalva, Alan Grayson, Donna Edwards, Barbara Lee, Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley, Democrats who work for ordinary families, not Democrats who join Republicans to do the bidding of lobbyists for special interests. Still, I was heartened yesterday evening when I saw the moribund House of Lords actually do something useful for a change. The Senate overcame, 62-30 a GOP filibuster against Obama's Jobs Bill. Interestingly, 4 Republicans with tough election prospects this year, Richard Burr (NC), Johnny Isakson (GA), Bob Bennett (UT) and Sam Brownback (KS), avoided the vote. (The most vulnerable of the 4, Richard Burr, was castigated this morning by North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall for shirking his responsibility. “It seems the only way for North Carolinians to get the jobs they need is for Richard Burr to lose his. I plan to send him home this November,” she said.) All the Democrats other than anti-family fanatic Ben Nelson voted for cloture to end the filibuster and they were joined by two retiring Republicans, Voinovich (OH) and Bond (MO), and three New Englanders resisting the lockstep obstructionism being demanded by DeMint, Vitter, Coburn, Thune and the other cynical partisans-- Olympia Snowe (ME), Susan Collins (ME) and... Scott Brown (MA), teabagger hero no longer?

Mike Elk from Campaign for America's Future, made the point that weak-kneed senators are likely to only extend unemployment and Cobra for 15 lousy days, further convincing me that we have to do in this country what England did with their House of Lords in 1911.

Such a move is absolutely pathetic and unacceptable. 1.2 Americans are expected to lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the month. While a 15 day extension will allow people to continue receiving aid, states will have already begun notifying hundreds of thousands that they will stop receiving aid.

...Meanwhile State governors are at the White House this week on their hands and knees begging for more money from the federal government. Since states by law are not allowed to go into debt, without federal aid they will have to cut essential services in order to balance their budgets. States face a $357 billion budget shortfall and local governments are facing an additional $80 billion in budget deficits.
However, Republicans in Congress have made it known that they will filibuster any request that gives more money to the states. Democratic Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware said "These solutions are being held hostage by petty bickering."

Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking yesterday on ABC This Week, criticized Republicans opposed to more stimulus funds for states are engaging "in a kind of politics."

Its time for the Senate GOP to stop engaging in politics and listen to the voices of its nation's Governors - both Republican and Democrat- who are calling for more stimulus funds.

Its time that the Senate passes a real jobs bill like the $154 billion dollar jobs bill like the House did back in December. The House Jobs bill took $75 billion in money earmarked for the Wall Street bail out and instead gave the money to states that actually need the money. The House Jobs Bills also extended by six months eligibility for unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies.

Here's President Obama's statement on the successful cloture vote in the Senate yesterday: "The American people want to see Washington put aside partisan differences and make progress on jobs, and today the Senate took one important step forward in doing that. I’m grateful to the Democratic and Republican Senators who voted to support these investments in infrastructure and small businesses. This is one of many efforts we need to tackle our economic challenges, and we will continue to work with Congress on additional job creation measures. Jobs remain our top priority, and I look forward to working with members from both parties to get legislation signed, and the American people back to work." Far too little. Obama's got to step up to the plate or Charlie Cook is going to be right about something for the first time in nearly a decade! Rachel wasn't quite as pessimistic last night as I was:

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UPDATE: Jobs Bill Passes With Hefty Bipartisan Support

The Jobs Bill passed this morning 70-28, with all Democrats (minus anti-worker fanatic Ben Nelson if you want to count him as a Democrat) voting along with a sad rump of 27 obstructionist Republicans to kill it. After being roasted by North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall for sucking up to his K Street lobbyist buddies instead of voting on the cloture amendment, Richard Burr was too frightened to vote against it and abandoned his usual pals, Jim DeMint, Saxby Chambliss, Johnny Isakson, Jeff Session and David Vitter to vote along side Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Sherrod Brown! Good work Elaine!