Like many here, I have been fretting about what Obama and the Democrats have given away for 3 lousy (and I do mean lousy) Republican votes. The problem, of course, is that under the Senate rules for a deficit raising bill that isn't governed by a budget resolution, 60 votes are needed to pass (not just to break a filibuster). This, as many have noted, has constrained the majority. Why Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, et al., took particular joy in removing the MOST EFFECTIVE stimulus measures (e.g., aid to state and local governments contemplating layoffs and service reductions) is beyond me. (A "moderate Republican" is such a peculiar hybrid -- Robin Williams likens them to a Volvo with a gun rack.)
However, Stan Collender reminds us that:
...even if the president doesn't make a request for additional fiscal stimulus, there will a number of already scheduled opportunities for more stimulus to be enacted. I'm even willing to predict that more will be adopted in the not too distant future if it is needed.
The congressional budget process will provide the means for this to happen.
A budget resolution is exempt from the filibuster and there is leftover 2009 business still to be enacted under the budget rules as well as the whole fiscal 2010 budget. By then we should have Al Franken in the Senate and Ted Kennedy back, meaning that (with Biden's tie-breaking vote) it would take 10 Democratic defections (counting Lieberman and Sanders as Dems -- and I'm not too worried about Sanders) to kill the bill.
Collender's conclusion is worth noting:
Not only will that make another stimulus bill much easier to enact, it's also something that could happen any time after the budget resolution is adopted so the process could be completed relatively early this year and the stimulus provided quickly.
My guess is that the Obama administration sees this, sees that it will get credit for even the changed version of the stimulus that is likely to get enacted, understands the political importance of an early legislative victory and, therefore, has decided to take what it can get now and come back for more in other ways in the not too distant future.
And even if that wasn't the orginal strategy, it certainly makes sense now.
So take heart, Kossacks, the battle has just begun!