And Now for the Stimulus Tug of War

President Barack Obama has made it a point to reach across the aisle in trying to gain Republicans’ support for his stimulus plan, but judging by the results of Tuesday’s Senate vote, partisanship is still afoot in the halls of Congress.

The New York Times:

For those of you keeping tabs, and unable to watch C-Span, Senate Democrats’ first efforts failed in amending the stimulus bill with a bigger infrastructure package to build roads, bridges and water projects.

A procedural vote to waive budget rules to proceed on the amendment failed, 58-39, two votes short of 60-votes needed. The vote itself drew out the opposition in a variety of ways, with Republican senators expressing their views on the broader disagreement over whether there ought to be deeper tax relief and less spending. It also demonstrated the strength of the Republican opposition to the overall bill, which they contend would amount to $1.2 trillion altogether.

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