Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed in August 2007.
(Photo by Kevin Rofidal, United States Coast Guard)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is setting up another Republican filibuster of American jobs, another opportunity for Republicans and ConservaDems to either stand with the millionaires or the unemployed. Predictably, it's looking like the millionaires are going to
win, with an assist from the usual suspects.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat who’s facing a tough reelection next year, said he’ll take a look at the latest jobs proposal — a $60 billion package to help rebuild aging infrastructure — but continues to have concerns about the fact that these bills have been funded by raising taxes on the rich. [...]
Sen. Joe Lieberman, a retiring Connecticut independent who caucuses with Democrats, has argued the government can’t keep spending more money at a time Congress is wrestling with the deficit. And he said he had no desire to complicate the task of the congressional supercommittee, which is charged with producing a plan by Thanksgiving to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the deficit. [...]
Earlier this month, Nelson and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) joined all Republicans in voting to filibuster President Barack Obama's sweeping $447 billion jobs package. A week later, Nelson, Lieberman and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) joined Republicans in blocking debate on a $35 billion bill for state aid to pay for teachers, police officers and firefighters—Democrats' first effort to break the jobs package into individual pieces.
It's unclear if Tester or Pryor will vote for cloture on the infrastructure bill, the next piece of Obama's jobs plan. Freshman Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who's often bucked his party leaders and president, said he’s signed on as a co-sponsor because "the one thing we need is infrastructure in this country."
Hard to argue with that bit of wisdom from Manchin. If you live in Nebraska, or Connecticut, Montana or Arkansas, you might want to let your senator know that it'd sure be nice to see the roads and bridges and water systems in your state get some much needed attention and, at the very least, they should vote yes on cloture to let the jobs bill get a full debate and a vote.