As KagroX pointed out in his front-page post about the conference agreement process, the Senate will insist that its version of the stimulus bill pass with no amendments from the House.
Assuming passage on Tuesday, the House will then have the option to accept the Senate package as is, to make still more amendments and send it back to the Senate, or to agree to the Senate's request for a formal conference to resolve their differences. It is the Senate's announced intention (also included in the unanimous consent agreements from last night) to insist on its version of the bill in conference. If the House acts immediately either to pass the bill or to go to conference, they would have an opportunity to do so Tuesday afternoon. The self-imposed deadline for clearing the bill for the White House falls prior to the scheduled adjournment for the President's Day recess at the end of next week. That doesn't leave a lot of time, and increases the pressure on the House and the likelihood that they'll be forced either to accept the Senate bill, or make only minor changes.
This means the cuts will remain unless we support the House in restoring the cuts in spending back to the stimulus bill.
What was taken out of the stimulus is NOT silly stuff, as Senator McCaskill seems to think below:
Proud we cut over 100 billion out of recov bill. Many Ds don’t like it, but needed to be done. The silly stuff Rs keep talking about is OUT.
Senator McCaskill, one of the so-called Senate centrists along with Senator Collins, are blind to what the real priorities are in this stimulus bill. They think that tax cuts are far more important and that keeping it "bipartisan" is the ultimate goal behind this legislation. Senator Collins has said that she will continue that blindness and tone-deafness by opposing any changes to the stimulus in the conference process.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is one of the three Republicans who says she will vote YES on the Senate version of the economic stimulus package, tells Morning Joe that she told POTUS that she could change her mind later, if Pelosi and company change the bill in conference. Her vote gives the administration the magic anti-filibuster 60 vote majority on the bill.
"I have made it very clear that if the bill comes back with a lot of the unnecessary expenditures crammed back in it with deep cuts in the tax relief provided to the American people than the Democrats will lose my vote," she said. " I’ve made that clear to the president and to his chief of staff as well. We have put together a carefully balanced package. It isn’t perfect, it isn’t my first choice...but it is far better than the bill that the House sent over and if that balance is upset in conference, I will vote no."
Thus, the Senate "centrists" will try to force the House to go along with its stimulus version, instead of the House stimulus version. We have to agitate and fight for the restoration of these cuts back to the stimulus bill. Once again, here's a list of what was cut out of the stimulus package in the goal of bipartisanship, prioritizing tax cuts over spending priorities that are designed to stimulate the economy. Look at this list, and think about the 600,000 jobs that will be lost if the cuts remain in the conference agreement.
Billion dollar cuts
$40 billion State Fiscal Stabilization
$16 billion School Construction
$7.5 billion of State Incentive Grants
$5.8 billion Health Prevention Activity
$4.5 billion GSA
$3.5 billion Higher Ed Construction (Eliminated)
$3.5 billion Federal Bldgs Greening
$2.25 Neighborhood Stabilization (Eliminate)
$2 billion broadband
$2 billion HIT Grants
$1.25 billion project based rental
$1 billion Head Start/Early Start
$1.2 billion in Retrofiting Project 8 Housing
$1 billion Energy Loan Guarantees
Here is the list of the likely conferees, both in the House and Senate, that we need to contact about restoring the cuts in conference. The conference process is probably beginning informally right now between the Senate, House, and the White House, so now would be the best time for them to hear from us.
CALL THESE LIKELY HOUSE CONFEREES
Rep. Charlie Rangel (Ways and Means) CALL HIM AT (202) 225-4365, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THE LOCAL OFFICE AT: (212) 663-3900
Rep. Pete Stark (Ways & Mean) (Subcomm on Health) CALL HIM AT 202-225-5065, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THIS LOCAL NUMBER AT: 510-494-1388
Rep. David Obey(Appropriations) CALL HIM AT (202) 225-3365, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THE LOCAL OFFICES AT: (715) 842-5606 and (715) 398-4426
Rep. Henry Waxman (Energy & Commerce) CALL HIM AT (202) 225-3976, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THE LOCAL OFFICE AT THESE NUMBERS: (323) 651-1040
(818) 878-7400 (310) 652-3095
Rep. John Spratt (Budget) CALL HIM AT 202-225-5501, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THESE LOCAL OFFICE NUMBERS: 803-327-1114, 803-773-3362, and 843-393-3998
Rep. Steny Hoyer CALL HIM AT (202) 225-4131, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THESE LOCAL OFFICE NUMBERS: (301) 474-0119, and (301) 843-1577
Rep. James Clyburn CALL HIM AT (202)225-3315, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THESE LOCAL OFFICE NUMBERS: (803)854-4700, (843)662-1212, and (803)799-1100
Rep. John Larson CALL HIM AT (202) 225-2265, and if you can't reach his main office, CALL THIS OFFICE NUMBER: (860) 278-8888
CALL THESE LIKELY SENATE CONFEREES
Senator Max Baucus (Finance) CALL HIM AT (202) 224-2651, and if you can't reach his main office, call these offices below:
222 North 32nd Street
Suite 100
Billings, MT 59101
(406) 657-6790
Bozeman, Montana
Federal Building
32 East Babcock
Suite 114
Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 586-6104
Butte, Montana
Silver Bow Center
125 West Granite
Suite 100
Butte, MT 59701
(406) 782-8700
Great Falls, Montana
113 3rd Street North
Great Falls, MT 59401
(406) 761-1574
(406) 452-1117 (TDD)
Helena, Montana
Empire Block
30 West 14th Street
Suite 206
Helena, MT 59601
(406) 449-5480
Kalispell, Montana
8 Third Street East
Kalispell, MT 59901
(406) 756-1150
Missoula, Montana
1821 South Avenue West
Suite 203
Missoula, MT 59801
(406) 329-3123
Senator Daniel Inouye (Appropriations) CALL HIM AT 202-224-3934, and if you can't reach his main office, try these numbers below:
Honolulu
300 Ala Moana Boulevard
Room 7-212
Honolulu, Hawaii 96850-4975
808-541-2542 Fax: 808-541-2549
Maui
Ryther Barbin, Field Representative
555 Iao Valley Road
Wailuku, HI 96793
808-242-9702 Fax: 808-242-7233
Hilo
Delbert Nishimoto, Field Representative
101 Aupuni Street, #205
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
808-935-0844 Fax: 808-961-5163
Molokai
William Akutagawa, Field Representative
P.O. Box 573
Kaunakakai, Hawaii 96748
808-560-3653 Fax: 808-560-3385
Kona
Wayne Tanaka, Field Representative
P.O. Box 4l
Kealakekua, Hawaii 96750
808-935-0844 Fax: 808-961-5163
Kauai
Ronald Sakoda, Field Representative
1840A Leleiona Street
P.O. Box 311
Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii 96766
808-245-4611 Fax: 808-246-9515
West Oahu
Edmund C. Aczon, Field Representative
94-403 Punono St.
Mililani, Hawaii 96789
808-623-8334
Senator Dick Durbin CALL HIS OFFICE AT (202) 224-2152, and if you can't reach his main office, try these numbers below:
CHICAGO
230 S Dearborn St.
Suite 3892
Chicago, IL 60604
8:30 am to 5 pm
(312) 353-4952 - ph
(312) 353-0150 - fx
SPRINGFIELD
525 South 8th St.
Springfield, IL 62703
8:30 am to 5 pm
(217) 492-4062 - ph
(217) 492-4382 - fx
MARION
701 N. Court St.
Marion, IL 62959
8:30 am to 5 pm
(618) 998-8812 - ph
(618) 997-0176 - fx
When you call these likely conferees to ask for the restoration of the cuts that were made to the Senate stimulus, please feel free to use this list below:
RESTORATION OF THESE CUTS
- State-stabilization funding
- School construction
- Health-care for the unemployed (INSIST ON THE HOUSE CONFERENCE VERSION)
- Higher Education construction
- Greening of federal buildings
- Broadband infrastructure
- HIT grants
- Head Start/Early Start
- Food stamps
CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AT 202-456-1111, and TELL THEM YOU WANT THE CUTS RESTORED BACK TO THE STIMULUS.
And if you want, you can ask for the tax cuts, including the $15,000 tax credit for the house-flipper, to be repealed except for Obama's tax cuts for the middle class.
Have at it, kossacks! Also, please recommend this diary if you think it's important for these cuts to be restored and if these cuts go through, they WILL be disastrous for the economy, according to many economists interviewed by the Huffington Post. (h/t to xysea).