Voinovich has stated that he is going to be the 60th vote to allow to pass the Small Business Bill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Well this is GREAT news. Voinovich has told Senator Reid that he is going to break the Republican filibuster when the Small Business Bill comes up for a vote on September 14th.
Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he plans to help push a package of small-business incentives through the Senate next week, a move that would give President Obama and congressional Democrats a key victory on the economy in the final weeks before the November midterm elections.
Voinovich's reasons for bucking McConnell:
"We don't have time for messaging. We don't have time anymore. This country is really hurting," Voinovich said. If a single amendment to reduce paperwork for business owners is considered on the floor, Voinovich said he told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that he would add his vote to that of 59 Democrats. That would give the majority party the 60 votes needed to overcome possible a GOP filibuster and move the package to final passage when Congress returns to Washington next week.
The White House has also been reaching out to Voinovich on Obama's Infrastructure bill (with Senator Bennett being an idiot even if they get Voinovich they may need another Republican Senator to pass that bill but that may happen during the Lame Duck Session).
Voinovich, a longtime champion of federal transportation spending, said he also plans to work with Obama to pursue a six-year reauthorization of the federal highway bill, and to jump-start the measure with $50 billion in immediate spending. Voinovich said the president called him personally to ask for his support, but offered few details about his reauthorization plan - including how it would be funded.
The senator is a strong advocate of responsible budgeting and has long called for increasing the gas tax, the traditional financing source for the nation's roadways. He said he mentioned that in his phone call with Obama, who proposed financing the first $50 billion by eliminating tax benefits for oil and gas companies. The latter idea is likely to be more popular among voters.
"I made very clear he would be better off talking about a gas tax to pay for this than to come up with other ways of paying for it," Voinovich said, adding that the president "did not respond to that. He just listened."
If I were Obama I would make sure the middle class tax cuts be voted on in the Senate before the midterms and allow amendments to be added that included some of the economic provisions that he has been touting. See if the Republicans vote against them.