Dems face internal revolt over Obama agenda

Solidarity of stimulus debate fades as lawmakers read fine print of bills


J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., are seen on Capitol Hill on Feb. 6 discussing efforts by Senate Democrats to pass the economic stimulus bill in the face of strong GOP opposition.


By Shailagh Murray
updated 2 hours, 1 minute ago

View related photos (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29610124/displaymode/1176/rstry/29609567/ )


Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda. But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

As the Senate inches closer to approving a $410 billion spending bill, the internal revolt has served as a warning to party leaders pursuing Obama's far-reaching plans for health-care, energy and education reform.

Those goals, spelled out in Obama's 2010 budget blueprint, continue to enjoy broad Democratic support. But as the ideas develop into detailed legislation, they will transform from abstract objectives into a tangle of difficult trade-offs. Crop subsidies, the student loan program and Medicare radiology rules are all currently niche concerns, but any one could become the next crisis for party leaders, with the potential to derail a major agenda item. One major proposal, to limit itemized deductions for wealthy taxpayers, has already raised doubts among prominent Democrats in both chambers.


Some issues that inflamed Democrats in previous years have yet to even register, including the proposal in Obama's budget plan to "means-test" the Medicare drug benefit as a way to pay for health-care reform. Doling out entitlement benefits based on income has long been anathema to most Democrats.

'Waiting in the wings'
"There are a lot of items in the budget that would normally get a lot more attention, if we were in a normal year," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who heads the House Democrats' fundraising arm. "They've been eclipsed by the tidal wave of the economy." But Van Hollen added: "They are waiting in the wings."

Democrats rejected four GOP amendments to the omnibus spending bill last night, and they will face more today. The additional amendments are the price that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to pay Thursday night after he sought to bring an end to debate on the bill and came up one vote short. Several Republicans whose support Reid had anticipated did not deliver, but the most costly defection was that of Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), a member of the Democratic leadership, in protest of a little-noticed Cuba provision that would ease U.S. rules on travel and imports to the communist-led island.

The Menendez rebellion was a jolt of political reality for Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Obama, signaling that the solidarity of the stimulus debate is fading as Democratic lawmakers are starting to read the fine print of the bills they will wrestle with in the coming weeks and months, and not always liking what they see.

Reid had been focused on fending off a bloc of conservative Republicans who were seeking to eliminate more than 8,500 pet projects in the bill, many of them inserted by GOP lawmakers. Democratic leaders were hearing some internal grumblings, but those concerns focused largely on the bill's hefty overall price tag.

Minority view
Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama's approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.

"The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide," the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue.

Treasury officials, working with Reid's office, continued yesterday to search for an administrative resolution with Menendez that would ensure a narrow interpretation of the legislative language in order to prevent gaping loopholes from developing. Menendez has pointed out that, had the bill sought significant changes in U.S. policy toward Iran or Venezuela, lawmakers would revolt. "What's the difference with Cuba?" said Menendez spokesman Afshin Mohamadi.

By allowing Republicans to offer a total of 11 amendments last night and today, Reid was hopeful that GOP support for the bill would grow and he would not need his New Jersey colleague's vote when the bill comes to a final vote, which is expected today.

Already, a pair of provisions in Obama's budget have attracted determined, if limited, Democratic opposition. One proposal would overhaul the federal student loan program to guarantee yearly increases in the Pell Grant program. That idea enjoys broad Democratic support. But to pay for the Pell Grant expansion, Obama would end federal support for private lending. And one of the major corporate providers of student loans is NelNet, a company based in Lincoln, Neb., the home state of Sen. Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat who balked at the stimulus package and teamed up with three moderate Republicans to cut $100 billion from the final bill. Cutting off support for NelNet would cost Nebraska about 1,000 jobs, according to Nelson's office. Nelson said the move could hurt middle-class students who do not qualify for Pell Grants. "I don't support anything that could reduce those benefits," Nelson said.

Nelson is also one of several Democrats who have objected to changes Obama has proposed in the farm subsidy system. By stopping direct payments to farms with annual sales of more than $500,000, the White House expects to save about $10 billion over 10 years. But along with Nelson, another Democratic opponent of Obama's annual-sales model is Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (N.D.).

Similar revolts are building against tax changes Obama has proposed, including one to limit deductions that many Democrats privately consider to be a non-starter. Climate-change legislation is months away from emerging, but some Democrats already worry about the political consequences of creating a cap-and-trade system that could result in higher utility bills. Some House Democrats have floated the issue of tariffs on foreign companies — potentially an explosive trade issue —to equalize the cost of a carbon cap.

Obama's proposal for Medicare means testing has received surprisingly little attention so far, beyond plaudits from Republicans who have supported the idea for years. The debate over an income scale was especially heated when Congress created the Medicare drug benefit, known as Part D, during President George W. Bush's first term. As a senator, Obama voted against a Medicare means-testing proposal in March 2007.

But times have changed, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who also voted no two years ago. The growing consensus among Democrats that health-care costs must be contained, and that coverage must be expanded to everyone, has redrawn the battle lines. "In the past, we've dealt with Part D on its own, and that tends to be polarizing. So the thought here is, that's much less likely if people think we're all in this together," Baucus said.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29609567

Obama is a man with no class. After 9/11 Blair gave Bush a statue of Churchill to indicate solidarity.
Now the Brit PM visits and gives Obama some really classy gifts - Obama gives the CHurchill statue back -insisting they take it back, and he gives Gordon 27 DVD's - none of which can be played on British players. What Obama was given was a desk set made from old wood from a slave ship - to honor the ending of slavery. Obama is an ASS - we definitely have a black in the white house, not an oreo.

Well, what would you buy Gordon Brown? He's not a man known for pleasure - rather as the sort to take an afternoon's summer holiday before heading straight back to work, so it must be hard. But Barack Obama can't have predicted the scornful response of the Daily Mail when he decided to pick Gordon up a few DVDs.

In return for a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of the one the White House desk is made from and a first edition of a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, the Mail is appalled that "Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country" gave Brown a box set of 25 DVDs selected by the American Film Institute. These, it says, include Raging Bull, Casablanca, Psycho and The Graduate. It is, the Mail says, "a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks".

Yet another example of the British press's apparent mission to feel snubbed by Obama on Gordon Brown's behalf - and obsession with the passing of the special relationship with Bush (at best, bittersweet). Was it only yesterday a commentary in the Times bemoaned the supposed injustice of the Browns giving the Obama's daughters Top Shop dresses (with matching necklaces) when all their parents gave the Brown boys were models of the presidential helicopter Marine One? Yes it was.

Still, it's difficult to resist reading political messages into these films. Like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, could Brown have been "a contender ... a somebody" if the US Congress had shown a little more interest in his global New Deal? Like Luke Skywalker on the Millennium Falcon, is Brown's history of support for light-touch financial regulation in the City of London now endangering the mission?

The 25 films also include two from the end of the Great Depression: the Grapes of Wrath (recommended to Obama on this blog a while back) and the Wizard of Oz. Perhaps there is something here. A 1990 paper in the Journal of Political Economy argued it could be read as monetary allegory: in this interpretation the yellow brick road represents the gold standard (a return to which is not US policy).

Among the rest are three of Obama's five personal favourites, according to his Facebook page: Casablanca, The Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia (omitted are the second Godfather film and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

Obama is, incidentally, really, really pleased with the pen holder and books. The White House even put out a press release saying so. It tells us the president thanked the prime minister and "noted the pen set is being displayed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and the books are in the president's personal study adjoining the Oval Office".

Maybe Brown's office will tweet each time he watches one of the 25. The Mail's full list is here. Please add your own cinematic/political interpretations below.

Giftgate threatens to take another twist and turn. Alex Massie at Coffee House flags up a vital and hitherto unconsidered aspect of the row, via one of Mark Hemingway's readers.

"It would be funny if the DVDs Mr Obama gave Mr Brown were Region 1 NTSC and therefore not compatible with the UK where DVDs are region 2 and video format is PAL."

This is quite a serious question. I have a vision of the Browns, Gordon and Sarah, settling down at the PM's country retreat (Chequers) this weekend. The children have been put to bed and Mr Brown heads in the direction of the DVD player:

GB: "The Obamas bought us some films on DVD. That was very thoughtful."

SB: "Not that thoughtful..."

GB: "What shall we watch? ET? Star Wars? Psycho, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia?

SB: sighs... "Seen them all."

GB: "I'll try The Wizard of Oz, it's the version in which all the colours have been restored to the original quality. We can stop and try something else if you don't like it. Where's the remote control?" (GB fiddles with the DVD player for several minutes) "Right, I think it's going to start." (Nothing happens, machine displays a notice saying 'disc loading error').

SB: (examining DVD cover) "They're Region 1, they won't play in the UK."

The Browns sit in complete silence for several more minutes reflecting on what this means.

Let's hope that somebody in the White House was aware of the difference between the formats and acted accordingly when ordering the DVDs. I have asked Number 10 to clarify and will post an update when they respond.

One word: Arrogance

I think you're on the wrong site. Try this one:
www.stormfront.org

Tex, thanks for the vote of confidence- I have way too many black and brown and other friends to fit on that crazy site - they would kill me!
Wm.

Experts chosen by the Obama administration are incompetent sycophants who got hired because they were political hacks, or as a result of favoritism, nepotism, or affirmative action - and they will uncritically ramrod their bosses' ideas even if it's contrary to reality and common sense.

Either way we're screwed

Agreed! And at least four of them are tax cheats - but he wanted them anyway - and the media is so into Obama worship that they give him a pass where they would have crucified ole Bush for much less.

I definitely concur with you on the Obama Adulation Phenomenon; It's as if he can do no wrong; It's sort of remminiscent of the O. J. Simpson L.A. Motorcade-Parade, or the recent Chris Brown domestic battery of Rihanna. These men are above the law, and everyone excuses their irresponsible behavior. What hypocrisy? It's the flip-side of discrimination: When Apologists overlook all types of short-comings to achieve a more politically correct world. Say, what?

Obama is spending the people's money like there's no tomorrow. The 10071 page Economic Stimulus Package was given to Congress just hours before they were supposed to vote on it. Did Obama, or the reputed author (Nancy Pelosi) of this Bill sit down to read it? Neither, did anyone else have the opportunity to read it; It was shoved through as if were hot lead! What a scam!

Now, Pelosi (the economic genius who recently said that the U.S. is losing 500 Million jobs a month) states that several additional Economic Stimulus Packages are need; for the sum of $200-$300 Million. Where did they get these people from? The nation has the world's highest foreign debt, and we're in the middle of a multi-trillion Dollars of red ink, and these buzzards want to borrow more cash from the taxpayers?

Back to the Obama superstar status: On the DT Forum threads only "Racism among Dominicans", gets more hits than "Barack Obama is the American Dream". Apparently, many haven't been around long enough to know what the American Dream is; or, they are just ignorant of the facts (Deaf, dumb, blind & stupid). The epitome of the Obama-Clinton Regime is the recent photo-op when Hillary presented her Russian counterpart a "Reset-Button". What choice of props? Was she serious?
I think Clinton must have had one too many funny pills that day. Mediocrisy is the new face of Democracy in the emerging U.S. Administration.

I'm neither Democrat, or Republican; Though I'm a Dominican Republican, tounge in cheeck....
But, I'm just an observer of the world of poli-tricks; And most of it is shady. What do you want from a bunch of lawyers (liars)? If you thought it was bad when the Turkey was in the White House? Surprise, the "Dude" will take the cake (sweet potato pie).