WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of moderate senators reached a deal today to cut about $100 billion from the $937 billion stimulus package, a development that could win enough GOP support to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, the group's Democratic leader said.
"The hope is we'll pick up two more Republicans, and if we're able to do that then I think we'll have sufficient numbers to get a vote and pass the alternative," Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., told reporters as he walked into a meeting with other Democrats.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, tried to apply pressure, calling days of delay "inexcusable" and announcing trips to Indiana and Florida next Monday and Tuesday to push for passage. On Thursday, the White House announced Obama would hold a primetime press conference on Monday night.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who is also part of the bipartisan group, said Republican resistance continued to center on the cost and the precedent of Obama's stimulus plan.
Some Republicans are against the notion of having the federal government take on responsibilities that historically have been handled by the states, she said. "They're arguing about the precedent we're setting of the federal government beginning to do things like school construction," she said.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and the other bipartisan team leader, circulated a roster proposing $88 billion worth of net cuts from the measure. She proposed eliminating money in the bill for K-12 education while boosting funding for Pentagon operations, facilities and procurement by $13 billion.
Collins is one of just three to five Republican targets Democrats hope to attract to breach the critical 60-vote barrier, though some in the group, such as Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., were said to be balking.
If a compromise on trimming the bill cannot be reached — or if it will not fly with Democratic loyalists — the alternative for Senate Democrats to try to ram the measure through with just a few Republican supporters, such as Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took to the Senate floor today to argue that the federal government is not as efficient in spending money as the private sector.
"This is something that has been absolutely clear for years. And it's the reason we don't have socialism in this country," he said.
Huh?
What the hell does John McCain know about how efficient the private sector is? That man has been sucking at the public teat his entire life ... or at least until he found a sugar momma.
But still, he's never held a private sector job.