This isn't long enough to constitute a diary, but I'm watching CSPAN where Sen. John McCain is talking about how this is "not a stimulus bill, it's a spending bill." Since there isn't an open thread available, I figured I'd create this diary for those who may be following the events on CSPAN and would like to comment.
Thune, Graham, and others (according to McCain) will be up to speak. Yay! McCain is railing against the lack of bipartisanship during the crafting of the bill. He alleges that the Speaker of the House implied that since Democrats won, they will be crafting the bill without the help of Republicans. (Close enough paraphrase.)
Anyone else watching?
Here is the link to watch it online: CSPAN 2.
UPDATE: Thune is up. Both sides really have no idea as to what will happen with the passage of this bill. Since Republicans insist that this bill will not create as many jobs as is forecast, what exactly are they proposing?
I like how they now care about how much this will cost future generations. When we were screaming about the cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom and how it'll burden future generations, we were dismissed as exaggerators.
UPDATE 2: Sen. Inouye (D-HI) is up. He is against Amendment 309 that was offered by Sen. Colburn yesterday evening. I watched Colburn argue his point last night and it made no sense to me why the bill would include funding for swimming pools.
Well, Inouye has pointed out that the funding that would be cut out by Colburn's amendment would cover monies designated for the VA and the upkeep of preexisting therapeutic swimming pools for veterans with spinal cord injuries.
UPDATE 3 (11:19AM): Our "friend" Sen. Graham is up. Tax cuts and spending. Tax cuts! The Administration is going to come ask for more money to hold up the banking industry, so we need to cut down on the money being placed in the Stimulus Bill. Must fix housing and banking Without doing that, the Stimulus Bill won't do squat, Graham says. Then he adds, "I want bipartisanship." LOL!
UPDATE (11:26AM): Sen. Bingaham (D-NM) is up. Wishes to offer Amendment 480, which would add additional funds for the National Park Service, Wildlife, etc.
UPDATE (11:36AM): These Republicans are pretty fired up against this bill. Sen. Sessions keeps saying that we don't know for certain if this Bill will have any effect on the economy, yet I haven't heard anyone offer up an alternative. And I don't think anyone is claiming to be clairvoyant when it comes to the effects of this Bill. I'm still trying to understand what they wish for us to do instead. Nothing?
And Sessions will have to forgive me if I'm not too keen on taking the economic advice of John "the fundamentals of our economy is strong" McCain.
UPDATE (11:41AM): Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) is up offering her Amendment with regards to development of health information technology. There was one objection.
UPDATE (11:46AM): Sen. Kyl wants to put into the record a number of Op-Eds that are against the "so-called Stimulus Bill," including one from the Washington Post. Anyone know which Op-Ed he is quoting from? EDIT: Found it. "The Senate Balks" by Michael A Fletcher. Who is this?
What I want to know is why the hell he is quoting from editorials? I can understand taking the voices of oursiders into consideration, but, uh, this isn't exactly convincing evidence.
Ha ha! Kyl just quoted from what President Obama said last night about the stimulus bill being a spending bill. "That's the whole point." Must have rankled some folks.
UPDATE (12:00PM): Sen. Baucus speaking now.
UPDATE (12:13PM): I am completely ignoring that last guy. Sen. Joe Lieberman is up. Interesting house on fire analogy.
UPDATE (12:41PM): Sen. Feinstein isn't so sure that this bill will help stimulate the economy. She doesn't know how many jobs will come out of this bill. She says that some of her colleagues cherrypicked their use of the CBO report. Tax cuts won't work as evidenced by the money that was sent out to Americans last year. She doesn't believe that this package will put the necessary jobs out there.