House Republicans discover their spines:
In contrast to the House, where Republicans complain that the $819 billion economic recovery package has been drafted without their input, the Senate is ramping up for a more open process. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed on Wednesday by a vote of 244 to 188, with no Republican support. Eight Democrats voted with 177 Republicans to oppose the bill.
Of course, it's easy to stand on principle when the outcome is preordained and you know your vote doesn't really matter. Some might even call it posturing. What happened to the conservative principles of the 91 Republicans who voted for the $700 billion bailout monstrosity, half of which has already been thrown down the rathole? A "no" vote might have meant something then. If the bailout hadn't passed, the precedent wouldn't have been set to act hastily out of panic and call it repsonsible leadership. And when we spend billions and it doesn't work, we panic even harder. We will spend even more, but this time we will spend it better. Honest! We really mean it this time!
Republicans are correct that this is just a Democratic wish list of pork projects that have very little to do with stimulus or recovery. But they'd be more credible if they'd established a slightly more responsible record on spending when they were in charge of Congress.
