Story Created:
Feb 16, 2009 at 10:28 AM AKDT
Story Updated:
Feb 16, 2009 at 11:29 AM AKDT
On Friday, congress passes the 787-billion dollar economic-recovery bill, despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition and weeks of heated negotiations.
Republicans made their last attempt to sway the Democratic majority against the bill. Representative John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, said to the assembled members of the house, "Eleven-hundred pages that not one member of this body has read." Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida voiced the Republican sentiment that the bill is not going to accomplish its goals by adding, "We're going to be embarrased, it's not going to help the economy."
The final vote was 246 in favor, 183 against which included seven democrats. In the senate, Democrats passed the bill with the three critical moderate Republican votes. But in the end the Democratic-led House pushed through the 787 billion dollar stimulus bill, although without the bipartisan support President Obama had hoped. Senator Lindsay Graham, Republican from South Carolina says, "The idea that this is bipartisan is false. It doesn't meet any realistic test of bipartisanship, and that is a loss."
The bill includes billions in tax cuts along with half a trillion dollars in government spending for infrastructure, health care, and so-called shovel-ready state projects. Wisconsin Democratic Representative David Obey said, "Guess what? This bill isn't perfect. Guess what? I've never seen a perfect bill." Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said of the bill, "After all the debate, this legislation can be summed up in one word: jobs." Most consider the vote a win for President Obama who says the bill will save or create at least 3 billion jobs. "Passing this plan is a critical step," says President Obama, "But as important as it is, it's only the beginning of what we must do to turn our economy around." After spending the weekend in Chicago, it is expected that the President will sign the bill into law on Monday.
Don Young, as Alaska's lone Representative in the House, sided with his Republican peers, fearing that the measure will send the United States into a deep reseccsion, or worse. Young went on to say that he had never seen a more one-sided effort to get a piece of legislation passed in his 30-plus years in office. Young echos Boehners comments, wondering how anyone could have voted for the bill when it came off the press late Thursday night, and that no one's read the 1,100 pages. Young maintains that the bill was essentially created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid, and that is bad policy for the nation.
Young would not comment on his opinion on whether Governor Sarah Palin should reject any of the stimulus bill money slated for Alaska.
