According to Greg Sergeant, Senators Ben Nelson and Susan Collins are conspiring to cut a whole lot of important stuff out of the stimulus bill, all in the name of "bipartisanship" and pleasing minority Republicans.
I’ve just obtained an internal Senate committee memo detailing the latest cuts being eyed by the gang of Senators being led by Dem Ben Nelson and GOPer Susan Collins. Here is what’s being eyed in the bill right now:
Total Reductions: $80 billion
Eliminations:
Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons, COPS Hiring, Violence Against Women, NASA, NSF, Western Area Power Administration, CDC, Food Stamps
Reductions:
Public Transit $3.4 billion, School Construction $60 billion
More info here.
I fully understand the need to compromise on certain aspects of the stimulus -- it's a HUGE bill and, as much as we hate to admit it, 46% of the country voted for the other guy. But this attempt at bipartisanship just plain stinks. The media has done a hell of a job distorting the debate, claiming that things like food stamps and unemployment benefits have nothing to do with stimulating the economy, but the facts show they're wrong.
Go here, find your Senators contact info, and make your voice heard.
Note from sitemonitor: Any further comments mentioning 9/11 on this thread are getting deleted. At this point it's flamebaiting, regardless of whether it's on topic or not. Funding firefighters is a good thing. Our own Nonny Mouse made that point, and we get that. Now stop it.
