#1 Senate Republicans reject President Obama's offer
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:54 pm
Time.Uk
[quote]President Obama’s effort to elevate American politics above traditional dividing lines and reach bi-partisan unity on a near-trillion dollar economic stimulus programme was yesterday in danger of crashing back to earth.
He is facing intense opposition from Senate Republicans over the sheer scale of the proposed public spending which, they complain, includes measures that will swell America's welfare programmes without creating jobs.
The House of Representatives passed an $820 billion (£575 billion) Bill last week without a single Republican voting for it. Yesterday, the Senate began discussing an inflated $890 billion version as pressure grew to expand it to $1 trillion or more through additional infrastructure projects, tax cuts and help for home-buyers.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said yesterday: “We all agree that we need to do something, but I don't think we should just completely act like the amount is irrelevant. Just to put a trillion dollars in context, if you started spending the day that Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day, you still wouldn’t have spent a trillion dollars. This is a lot of money.â€
[quote]President Obama’s effort to elevate American politics above traditional dividing lines and reach bi-partisan unity on a near-trillion dollar economic stimulus programme was yesterday in danger of crashing back to earth.
He is facing intense opposition from Senate Republicans over the sheer scale of the proposed public spending which, they complain, includes measures that will swell America's welfare programmes without creating jobs.
The House of Representatives passed an $820 billion (£575 billion) Bill last week without a single Republican voting for it. Yesterday, the Senate began discussing an inflated $890 billion version as pressure grew to expand it to $1 trillion or more through additional infrastructure projects, tax cuts and help for home-buyers.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said yesterday: “We all agree that we need to do something, but I don't think we should just completely act like the amount is irrelevant. Just to put a trillion dollars in context, if you started spending the day that Jesus was born and you spent a million dollars every single day, you still wouldn’t have spent a trillion dollars. This is a lot of money.â€