Regarding that stimulus package... I think we're going about this the wrong way. The past few years have clearly shown that the American people want things to change in this country. They want politicians to change the way they do things in Washington.
We've got a crisis. A huge, complicated multifaceted problem that developed over a long period of time. There is no silver bullet that will solve it. So why are we treating the problem that way by using this quasi silver bullet stimulus package?
It's not working for us. It has become just like the huge omnibus spending bills that are the epitomy of "typical Washington". We've lost the forest through the trees as the Republicans tramp through the forest with media teams shouting "Look at this tree! The Democrats are going to spend 20 billion dollars to save this tree! It's not a tree worth saving! Americans don't want that tree!"
Democrats have lost control of this bill and it's now being driven by the Republican minority. I think there is a better approach.
Picking apart the stimulus bill, like vultures
Obama to enlist local GOP in stimulus fight
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
Feb. 5, 2009, 12:12AM
Obama’s network appearances were planned as a response to a wholly unanticipated development: Republicans — short on new ideas, low on votes, and deeply unpopular in the polls — have been winning the media wars over the president’s central initiative.
They have done so largely by focusing on minor bits of the stimulus that amount, as Obama said in at least two of his network interviews, to "less than 1 percent of the overall package." But Republicans have succeeded in defining the proposal by its least significant parts.
...
For most of the debate, Obama has cast himself as a benevolent referee overseeing a sprawling and untidy legislative process to which he would eventually bring order. He urged Democrats to knock out small spending measures that had caused public relations problems while doing little to defend the overall package or to reply to its Republican critics.
In the meantime, those critics were relentless, often casting logic aside to reframe the debate from a practical concern over how to rescue the economy to an ideological dispute about government spending.
http://www.chron.com/...
For the purpose of the argument I'm making and the solution I propose (in more detail below) I would like to emphasize this sentence from the article above:
But Republicans have succeeded in defining the proposal by its least significant parts.
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What are the fundamental problems?
The size of the bill
The diversity of the bill
--- The size of the bill:
Moderate Republicans are trying to trim the bill by as much as $200 billion, although Democrats working with those GOP senators have not agreed to a specific figure.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
--- The diversity of the bill:
The Senate's first vote on a stimulus amendment, a failed effort yesterday to add more infrastructure spending to the package, signaled the change in course. For weeks, the measure has grown to meet a worsening economic crisis with the largest possible infusion of government cash. Despite warnings of dire consequences if Congress does not act boldly, Republicans have become resolute in their opposition to what they view as runaway and unnecessary spending in the legislation. And as the total in the Senate version climbs to $900 billion, unease also is stirring among moderate Democrats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
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The current approach?
Wooing and pampering Republican Senators to let them put their stamp on the bill
Many people making many changes to an already complicated bill
--- Wooing Republicans, some of whom are crowing,
Obama woos GOP sens. one at a time
Obama told Specter that Republicans would be allowed to offer amendments on the Senate floor and expressed hope that the chamber would adopt changes to allay the Pennsylvania Republican’s concerns.
The meeting capped an intensive courtship of Specter.
...
"We talked about stimulus and a lot of things," said Hatch. "I met with Rahm Emanuel, Vice President Biden and then Barack Obama came in and we went back to the Oval Office and chatted.
"He’s always felt I can be someone who can be very helpful to him," Hatch added.
...
"He’s going to be a busy man — I’m meeting with him tomorrow afternoon," said Snowe.
http://thehill.com/...
and some of whom are pouting:
As a result, Grassley has complained about being shut out of substantive negotiations over the stimulus. He voted against the tax portion of the package even though Democrats agreed to include a $70 billion one-year freeze of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
Senators are running around slicing and dicing and coming up with their own packages and amendments. Some things that have popular support are being pulled out or reduced (Pell Grants, Head Start) because they're being painted as not being "job growth" projects. President Obama has decided to appease the Senate Republicans and has told the leadership to allow them to bring their projects to the floor, and he has told Senate Democrats to "vote their conscience". There appears to be no attempt to try to keep the caucus together.
Republicans seem to be very focused on the total price of the package more than the quality of it. They seem to be focused on digging in their heels and making their points, both reasonable points and the typical liberal spendthrift smears. It's as if this is their big chance. Why? Because the stimulus bill is one big monster omnibus type bill. If it were broken into smaller pieces, (moving targets?) it would be harder for them to take their potshots and frankly, they might not feel the need, (it burns) to stake their ground on this one, huge bill.
--- Many changes to an already complicated bill:
Extensive Senate revisions would force lawmakers to work at a frantic pace to meet a self-imposed Feb. 13 deadline for completing a compromise bill with the House, which passed an $819 billion version last week. Obama reiterated his call for urgent action in a meeting Monday night with Democratic leaders and by letter yesterday to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Rushing to put together a bill at a "frantic pace" with multiple people and teams constructing their own packages, or trying to ram in their pet amendments, will surely not result in a better stimulus bill.
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A Better, Faster and More Rigorous Approach:
Solving Big Problems by Breaking them into Manageable Pieces of Work
Multiple, Manageable Stimulus Packages
--- Solving Big Problems by Breaking them into Manageable Pieces of Work
The Congress needs a project manager. Every good engineer and software developer knows that big problems have to be solved by breaking them into components. Every software architect knows that different components have to be developed by different teams, sometimes in parallel, sometimes serially, with coordination by project managers and software architects. The same type of organization and process is used in big construction projects. In Congress, right now it seems that we've got too many chiefs trying to run the show, with no overall coordination and each chief seems to be working on all the components at the same time.
The result is a lot of waste, and a very low probability of success in the end product.
--- Multiple, Manageable Stimulus Packages
Break up the stimulus package into several, smaller and more discrete bills. Try to categorize each package so that it has a distinct purpose. Emphasize that each package is one of many stimulus packages and there will be opportunities for various lawmakers to work on the things important to them in upcoming bills.
Let different members of Congress work on different packages, but give them a task, a goal to accomplish, instead of having everyone running around trying to redo the current monster stimulus package. This can be done in a bi-partisan way, and it's a much better and more efficient use of people's time, energy and expertise. Set up teams of people from both the House and the Senate and let them work together. That's the kind of bi-partisanship I could believe in.
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Implementation
Roll out the stimulus packages as they are ready. Some of them could be done very quickly by pulling out items from the current bill that most everyone agrees on. For instance, make "Package A" the first stimulus package for shovel ready infrastructure packages. It won't be the last infrastructure package, it's just the one that can be passed quickly and implemented quickly.
Meanwhile, other teams are working on other packages, with the House and Senate leadership acting as overall coordinators. As the packages are ready, roll them out, get them passed, and implement them.
Ongoing Project -- An FDR Approach
This needs to be viewed as an ongoing project, not a monster 900 billion dollar stimulus package that will save the world. Things change, some attempts won't work, some will. This has to be an ongoing project.
Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft has been focusing on the FDR Oglethorpe Speech. The more I read it, the more I realize that FDR understood the problems and situations of his day, and that they also apply to ours. This is a sensible approach. We should follow in his steps.
It is toward that objective that we must move if we are to profit by our recent experiences. Probably few will disagree that the goal is desirable. Yet many, of faint heart, fearful of change, sitting tightly on the roof-tops in the flood, will sternly resist striking out for it, lest they fail to attain it. Even among those who are ready to attempt the journey there will be violent differences of opinion as to how it should be made. So complex, so widely distributed over our whole society are the problems which confront us that men and women of common aim do not agree upon the method of attacking them. Such disagreement leads to doing nothing, to drifting. Agreement may come too late.
Let us not confuse objectives with methods. Too many so-called leaders of the Nation fail to see the forest because of the trees. Too many of them fail to recognize the vital necessity of planning for definite objectives. True leadership calls for the setting forth of the objectives and the rallying of public opinion in support of these objectives.
Do not confuse objectives with methods. When the Nation becomes substantially united in favor of planning the broad objectives of civilization, then true leadership must unite thought behind definite methods.
The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach.
"Bold, persistent experimentation."
"Unite thought behind definite methods."
"So complex, so widely distributed over our whole society are the problems..."
"Such disagreement leads to doing nothing, to drifting. Agreement may come too late."
"..take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."
Break up the stimulus package into separate, discrete problems and methods. And do it now, because some of the solutions are within easy reach. There is no silver bullet to solve all of our problems, so it shouldn't be treated that way legislatively. This is going to be an ongoing process, a project.