In The Blogs

Taking Governance Seriously

| Thu Nov. 5, 2009 11:32 PM PST

Congress passed something today. Hooray!

Congress gave final approval Thursday for an additional $24 billion to help the jobless and support the housing market as climbing unemployment poses a growing liability for elected officials.

The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the House and headed to President Obama for his signature Friday, extends unemployment nsurance benefits that were due to expire and renews an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, while also expanding it to cover many other home purchases.

And Democrats only had to break three separate filibusters in the Senate to get this passed! The first filibuster was broken by a vote of 87-13, the second by a vote of 85-2, and the third by a vote of 97-1. The fourth and final vote, the one to actually pass the bill, was 98-0. Elapsed time: five weeks for a bill that everyone ended up voting for.

Why? Because even though Republicans were allowed to tack on a tax cut to the bill as the price of getting it passed, they decided to filibuster anyway unless they were also allowed to include an anti-ACORN amendment. Seriously. A bit of ACORN blustering to satisfy the Palin-Beck crowd is the reason they held up a bill designed to help people who are out of work in the deepest recession since World War II. Details here and here. That's called taking governing seriously, my friends.

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

I'm confused. Is this

Submitted by James2 (not verified) on Thu Nov. 5, 2009 11:56 PM PST.

I'm confused. Is this (http://www.detnews.com/article/20091105/AUTO01/911050429/1148/rss25) the result when they take their jobs seriously?

...

Submitted by Crissa (not verified) on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 12:48 AM PST.

You're complaining that people violated the law? And this means lawmakers are wrong?

Sheesh.

Are you kidding me? How

Submitted by James2 (not verified) on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 8:38 PM PST.

Are you kidding me? How about the part where the government gave away $3B of our money (well at least my money, I have no idea if you pay any taxes) to carmakers via a bill that seems to have accomplieshed almost nothing that the drafters of the bill claimed they wanted to accomplish. Unless of course you view destroying that old 16mpg SUV so that Jones can buy a shiny new 18mpg SUV as a noble goal.

Ford turned a profit last quarter

Submitted by Bruce Webb (not verified) on Sat Nov. 7, 2009 11:20 AM PST.

Since the most common trade was an older F-150 for a newer F-150 I would suggest there is a connection. And the guys that buy F-150's (as opposed to some huge Dodge truck mostly bought for show) tend to drive them hard. So I would think in terms of economic stimulus and maintaining American manufacturing jobs this was pretty much a success quite apart from any environmental benefits.

Seriously?

Submitted by Mario on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 12:40 AM PST.

If Congress were taking governance seriously, they wouldn't be trying to prop up housing prices by drawing in more and more people into the market. I don't know anyone on any point in the ideological spectrum that thinks this is anything other than horrible policy and a tremendous waste of money. Feel free to criticize Republicans for slowing down a policy that will help people who are out of work, but you should save a little criticism for the Democrats who paired that policy with one that will prolong the reason for their unemployment.

I couldn't agree more. This

Submitted by Art Eclectic on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 8:09 AM PST.

I couldn't agree more. This crap is why the Dems are going to get slaughtered next year in the mid terms. Not only are they not doing what they were hired to do, they keep handing out money to people to prop up industries that were badly managed and need to go bankrupt so they can change the way they do business. This extension and expansion of the homebuyer credit is what is finally going to make me think about moving to another country. Just unbelievable.

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Submitted by Crissa (not verified) on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 12:47 AM PST.

That tax credit does nothing to actually get people in homes. It's a blatant giveaway to het 10% couples who can already afford homes.

great article

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You're missing the point.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 9:57 AM PST.

You're missing the point. Only people who read a left wing blog like your's know this. The tax cut and anti-acorn will be repeated again and again.

And this scenario will be repeated again and again as long as Obama thinks he can work with Republicans.

Blow-up the filibuster

Submitted by joem (not verified) on Fri Nov. 6, 2009 11:29 AM PST.

I believe the rules of the senate can be amended with a simple majority vote. It is time to end this farce. The direction of the Republican party makes it clear there will be no cooperation of any kind dealing with policy and government operations. Blowing up the filibuster will cause outrage among the usual suspects, however, political survival requires democrats actually accomplish something of value to the american people. It seems the time has come to eliminate this institutional impediment to any meaningful change.