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Use Stimulus Money for Tax Relief
Tweet Share on Facebook March 2, 2010 Comment (11)By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
In the battle of ideas over the best ways to stimulate the still lagging U.S. economy, South Dakota Sen. John Thune is attempting to get to the head of the pack by proposing a series of tax incentives to help small business.
As part of the current Senate debate over the so-called "tax extenders bill," Thune has proposed a series of incentives designed to help small business invest in new capital and hire more workers.
Specifically, Thune is asking the Senate to approve language that would:
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Bunning’s Benefits Blockade and the End of Civility
Tweet Share on Facebook March 2, 2010 Comment (47)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
After writing yesterday's blog about civility and partisanship, I learned hours later that Sen. Jim Bunning had made an obscene gesture at a reporter from ABC News. He did so in the midst of his standoff with Senate Democrats over unemployment benefits for folks who have lost their jobs, because he believes the bill should be paid for under the current budget, and it is not. (Remember that the president signed "pay-go" into law two weeks ago; this is one of the first bills considered since then.) As a result, unemployment benefits and COBRA health coverage are being held up for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
This story involves three things: 1. Uncivil, rude behavior by a member of Congress that has no place in the political debate; 2. continued runaway spending that further increases the budget; and 3. denying help for real families who need it.
With the exception of the ABC reporter, every person involved in this story is an incumbent in Congress. No wonder polls show that voters want to throw them all out! This is why people are angry. They're disgusted by all of it.
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Republicans are Disingenuous on Reconciliation, Health Reform
Tweet Share on Facebook March 2, 2010 Comment (48)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Sen. Orrin Hatch published a highly misleading op-ed piece in today’s Washington Post, in which he parrots the current Republican talking point that the Democrats are about to “abuse” the Senate’s rules and “stifle” dissent and “badly undermine” the Constitution to “ram through the Senate a multitrillion-dollar healthcare bill.” The Democrats, of course, are doing no such thing. I don’t know where Hatch was, but most of the country saw the Democrats ram the healthcare bill, fair and square, through the Senate in December.
Hey, Orrin. The deed has been done. The Senate has acted. The Democrats got their 60 votes; shut down your filibuster, and pass the bill.
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Forget the Senate, House Hurdles Threaten to Sink Health Reform
Tweet Share on Facebook March 2, 2010 Comment (5)Linda Killian, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
There's been endless talk about counting votes and using reconciliation to pass healthcare in the Senate. But with the realization that the Democrats probably don't have a majority of votes for the plan in either chamber of Congress right now, attention is shifting to the House.
House members feel a little bit like Charlie Brown with the football expecting the Senate/Lucy to pull it away just as they are ready to kick it. That's why there is some complicated back room choreography going on about who goes first.
But according to Jason Altmire, a moderate Democrat from Pennsylvania's 4th District, the order doesn't matter. What matters is what's in the bill.
Altmire voted against the House plan in November, and he says he hasn't seen or heard anything since to convince him to change his mind.
"I don't think that anything has changed. We're hearing the same talking points we've been hearing for a year. I don't think the debate has moved one way or the other," Altmire says.
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Civil Partisanship is Not a Bad Thing
Tweet Share on Facebook March 1, 2010 Comment (12)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
There's been a lot of writing lately about the need for "bipartisanship." Too often, those who are decrying the death of bipartisanship these days are really just upset at the lack of something else. That something is "civility." My high school Latin teacher, Sister Marie Lawrence, would point out here the roots of civility: It comes from the Latin "civilis," meaning "relating to citizens." Its first English meaning related to good citizenship and orderly behavior in society. Only later did it come to mean politeness. When Congressman Joe Wilson yelled "You lie!" on the House floor during the president's speech, that was uncivil.
Partisanship is different. You can be partisan and civil at the same time, and in fact, should be. John Stuart Mill once said this about partisanship: "A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life." In his Political Dictionary, Bill Safire pointed out that on the positive side, partisanship is basic to the two-party system, which he defined as "the adversary system of arriving at truth in government." On the down side, it is attacked as "introducing unnecessary strife, placing party advantage above the public interest."
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Crosby Snares Olympic Gold for Canada, Making Non-Penguins NHL Fans Shiver
Tweet Share on Facebook March 1, 2010 Comment (6)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
With 40 seconds to go in the gold medal hockey game, the wife--born in the frozen northland--starts singing "Ohhh Ca-na-da...."
Well, Zach Parise put an end to that bit of warbling, and Sunday dinner was officially delayed for the overtime. The American kids, it seemed, were on the brink of a mighty upset. But then Sidney "F." Crosby made things right for all the good folks from Moose Jaw to Dalhousie, and ended a splendid Winter Olympics for our good friends and neighbors above the border.
Yes, Canada--not the United States, not Russia, not Germany--ended the Vancouver games with the most gold medals. Couldn't have happened to a better bunch of people.
