Pelosi’s New Deal

From Pat Buchanan at MSNBC:

Does President Obama really want this Nancy Pelosi New Deal to be his legacy? Because that is exactly what he is inviting. And before he uses force majeure to ram this bill through the Senate, he ought to consider what the honest objections are. When Sen. John Kyl, at a White House meeting with Obama, said that giving income tax rebates to millions of folks who pay no income taxes seems to be simply welfare, Obama tersely replied, “I won.”

Indisputably. But does it make sense to include in a plan to prepare America for the 21st century borrowing billions from Beijing to mail out in $500 checks to folks who don’t pay income taxes, so they can run down to Wal-Mart and buy more goods made in China? The New York Times reports Monday in a front-page story about California, “A State With a Wish List,” “More than two-thirds of the states are facing budget shortfalls this year and next … and could use the money to help balance budgets, blunt potential cuts in education and shrink Medicaid obligations.”…

It is too much LBJ, who bet the ranch on spending and failed, and not enough JFK, who bet on tax reductions that succeeded.

Meanwhile:

Earlier Thursday, Reid said Democrats have enough votes to pass the bill as it is. But under Senate rules, at least a few Republicans would need to join with the Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to avoid a lengthy and potentially fatal filibuster.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the Democrats must have “a handful of Republican senators to make it happen.”

From Barack Obama at the WSJ:

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis — the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We’ve seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

From Joelle Tessler at the AP:

The broadband proposals are still taking shape as Congress debates the broader stimulus plan. But the bill that ultimately emerges is likely to contain $6 billion to $9 billion to help fund landline and wireless broadband networks in unserved and underserved areas. It also is likely to give tax incentives to encourage companies to invest in new or faster broadband networks…

A Pew study found that 14 percent of today’s dial-up and non-Internet users say they don’t subscribe to broadband because it is not available where they live. But far more — 51 percent — say they are just not interested.

There is over $100 billion in Renewable Energy funding:

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Friday on its version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the stimulus package that the House of Representatives passed last week by a vote of 244-188.

Here’s the POTUS revving up the Dems.