...American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds play a key role in the $54 million construction project at Western Missouri Medical Center, a USDA representative said Wednesday.
"If not for the stimulus funds, we probably wouldn't be in this room today," USDA State Rural Development Director Anita "Janie" Dunning said.
Without stimulus money, Gregory said, the USDA could not have loaned the hospital $34 million...
It's the only hospital in the county - the nearest hospital after that is at least thirty miles away.
The punch line? A republican state senator was quoted in the same article:
...Sen. David Pearce said, "We've all invested in this hospital and believe in it."
I haven't had time to take a careful look at the "jobs" plan Roy Blunt unveiled yesterday. At a cursory glance, it seems like the same recipe that cost us 9 million jobs in the worst recession since the 1930s: gut regulation, cut taxes for the wealthy, roll back health care reform and let costs escalate, etc. Par for the course.
This lack of substance is, of course no surprise to those of us who have followed Blunt's career as a corporate toady doing latrine duty in the Senate - take, for instance, the total lack of product, other than conservative platitudes, that emanated from the Republican Healthcare Solutions Group that Blunt chaired.
Think Progress' Pat Garafalo offers some initial insights into the lack of there there that tend to confirm my initial impression. Garofalo faults Blunt's plan for the predictable emphasis on "fearmongering about the deficit," and argues that Blunt's desire to rescind the unspent stimulus funds would amount to a tax on the middle class. More interestingly, Garofalo notes that in spite of all the deficit rhetoric, one of the few substantive proposals involves extending an expensive stimulus benefit for the real estate industry. Should we believe that it is just a coincidence that real estate is one of Blunt's ten largest donor groups when his receipts are broken down by industry, having gifted him with more than $150,000 during the 2009-2010 election cycle?
But, you ask, ever ready to extend the benefit of the doubt, the important question is whether or not this benefit will actually create jobs? According Garofalo:
... the home buyer's tax credit was enacted as part of the stimulus and then extended a couple of times, and by all accounts it was a complete and total boondoggle, costing taxpayers billions to subsidize activity that was going to happen anyway. Even the credit's staunchest supporters have said that its "sunsetting is an incentive to drive people to the marketplace" and poo-pooed the notion of extending it forever, which clearly turns it into a permanent subsidy to the real estate industry.
Garofalo especially disdains Blunt's willingness to extend this benefit given his jump-on-the-bandwagon bleating about the dangers of the deficit. I would add that a person who spends so much time trying to paint a moderately successful round of stimulus spending as a failure, should be really, really careful about selectively extending it for favored campaign contributors. Though Blunt's two-faced response to the stimulus is, I guess, kind of an old story by now - he has been more than willing to claim credit for the goodies it brought the state - but it still stinks when he tries to use those funds to do his benefactors a solid on the public dime. It'll be interesting to see just what other giveaways are tucked into Mr. Blunt's loudly ballyhooed jobs plan.
Thanks to the Democratic leadership in the U.S. House and Senate, who persevered in the face of ongoing Republican obstruction, Missouri will receive almost $400 million dollars to stave off teacher layoffs and cuts in Medicaid. This means, as Michael Bersin pointed out earlier, that jobs have been saved. Many of our neediest have been given breathing space for another year. The state, which is balancing on the edge of a fiscal knife, may avoid, for one more year at least, transformation into the third-world outpost that GOP legislative leaders seem to want to create.
It's no surprise, though, that those same just-say-no Republicans who tried to kill the bill are hell-bent on distorting this tiny extension of stimulus spending.
Blaine Luetkemeyer, for instance, wants to turn the tables and present his obstruction as an effort to save jobs:
It was a bad bill, pure and simple. It's another bailout," Luetkemeyer said. "Our challenge is to find ways to help businesses keep doing what they're doing.
Luetkemeyer is partially right. Finding ways to help small businesses grow and expand is important if we are going to crawl out of this recession - but the way to do it is not to destroy the consumer base that provides the fuel for economic growth.
Apropos of the Republican obstructionism which is on the verge of driving the economy into a double-dip recession, Matt Iglesias writes:
... the way the American political system works, the minority party that prevented the majority from addressing the crisis will accrue massive political benefits as a result of the collapse.
Conservatives won't admit it today, but what we're looking at is a major breakdown of the logic of the American political system.
What he is talking about is the fact that Republicans, who during the Bush years drove the economy pell-mell off a cliff, have, as an electoral strategy, steadfastly worked to ensure that Rush Limbaugh gets his wish that the President fail - and if that sinks the economy for the next decade, well, the devil take the hindmost. They have fought everything that we know, based on historical precedent, to be sound economic policy, and they succeeded in hobbling the initial stimulus by paring it to half of what it should have been.
The main GOP tool for wreaking self-righteous havoc: like the liar screaming fire in a crowded theater, they rampage through the media screaming something to the effect that the deficit is coming and it's going to eat your children - after running up record deficits under every Republican president since Reagan. They've managed to bamboozle economically ignorant Americans who actually believe cable news sound-bites offering simple formulas that distort the complex relationship between short-term stimulative spending and long-term debt.
Nor are GOPers one-trick ponies; they have one more especially potent tool: go on the offensive and lie like a dog. Deny the demonstrable fact that even a weak stimulus moved us toward recovery - which might mean that a bigger stimulus could spur a bigger recovery. Deny that the growth of the national debt, as Ezra Kleiln points out, reflects "a massive drop in revenues, not $4 trillion in spending over the past two years... ."
You want an example? I give you Roy Blunt trotting out, rather lackadaisically, I admit, the GOP two-pronged tool box, the lazy pol's substitute for a campaign strategy, but one that he clearly expects reward him with a Senate seat:
Paul Krugman tells us that our political culture is sick:
... a culture that rewards hypocrisy and irresponsibility rather than serious efforts to solve America's problems. And blame the filibuster, under which 41 senators can make the country ungovernable, if they choose - and they have so chosen.
My question: why would anyone want to send one more irresponsible hypocrite like Roy Blunt to the senate where he gets to help wield the filibuster for the benefit of the cronies and campaign contributors whose welfare kept him so busy in the House? Why should we reward him for failure in the past just because he promises to do the same thing in the future?
Biden says failing $862B "stimulus" was too small and would have been bigger with more Democrats. The choice is clear on Nov. 2.
Failing stimulus? Guess Roy prefers to ignore the figures from the new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the impact of the stimulus on employment and economic growth:
* Raised the level of real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.2 percent,
* Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points,
* Increased the number of people employed by between 1.2 million and 2.8 million, and
* Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 1.8 million to 4.1 million compared with what those amounts would have been otherwise. ...
Or maybe Blunt is agreeing with VP Biden that the stimulus should have been larger? That would certainly also put him in agreement with economists like Paul Krugman and Nouriel Roubini who are pointing out that the current slowdown in the recovery can be traced to an inadequate stimulus package. Somehow, though, I doubt that our Roy is much swayed by expert opinion, so I think we are left with a nasty little exercise in how to be both dishonest and snide in 140 characters or less.
Blunt is, of course, like the proverbial broken clock that is right twice a day, unequivocally correct that the choice is clear come November. Sadly, though, he seems to be relying on the not unreasonable hope that the Republican effort to obstruct economic progress while muddying public perception will win out. As Paul Krugman observed today:
Since Mr. Obama took office, they [i.e. Republicans] have engaged in relentless obstruction, obviously unworried about how their actions would look or be reported. And it's working: by blocking Democratic efforts to alleviate the economy's woes, the G.O.P. is helping its chances of a big victory in November.
We'll be covering President Obama's visit to Kansas City tomorrow, both at the Smith Electric Vehicle plant and at one of the fundraising events for Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's U.S. Senate campaign. As a prelude to tomorrow's activities the White House offered a media conference call with administration officials this afternoon on the Recovery Act event:
The White House
Office of Media Affairs
For Immediate Release
July 7, 2010
CONFERENCE CALL: Administration Officials to Preview the President's Upcoming Visit to Kansas City, Missouri
WASHINGTON- Today, at 1:00 p.m. EDT Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist to Vice President Biden, and Matt Rogers, Senior Advisor to Energy Secretary Chu will hold a conference call to preview the President's upcoming visit to Kansas City, Missouri.
In Kansas City on July 8, President Obama will visit Smith Electric Vehicles where he will tour the facilities and deliver remarks on the economy to workers. Smith Electric Vehicles is an all-electric, zero emissions commercial truck manufacturer that received a $32 million Recovery Act grant to build all-electric trucks. The award, which is part of the $2.4 billion in Recovery Act advanced battery and electric vehicle grants the President announced last August, is helping Smith Electric establish operations at a re-purposed jet engine overhaul facility at the Kansas City International Airport, the first of as many as 20 regional assembly plants Smith Electric plans to open in the U.S....
The transcript:
Matt Lehrich, White House Communications: Hey everybody, it's Matt Lehrich, in White House Communications, thanks for joining us today. We are joined by Jared Bernstein who is chief economist for Vice President Biden and by Matt Rogers, Senior Advisor to Energy Secretary Chu. Gonna talk a little bit about, uh, what the President's gonna be talking about tomorrow as well as the Recovery Act more broadly, and some of the specific programs under Department of Energy. And with that I'll turn it over to Jared Bernstein....
We received the following press release from the White House:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of Media Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2010
Cabinet Secretaries, Senior Officials Hold Events Across the Country to Highlight Administration's Commitment to Job Creation, Economic Growth
....Friday, June 4th....
....Department of Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood, along with Reps. Russ Carnahan and Jo Ann Emerson, will attend the ribbon cutting at Holcim's newest Recovery Act-funded cement plant in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The plant supported 2,500 jobs during construction, and now supports 250 full-time permanent positions.
11:00am CDT
Holcim Ste. Genevieve Plant
...Bloomsdale, MO....
Wait a minute. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (r) was scheduled to attend the celebration of the fruits of the Recovery Act? Didn't Jo Ann Emerson vote against the Recovery Act? Yep:
WASHINGTON Perry County's representative in Congress, Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) voted against the stimulus bill passed by Congress in early 2009, and she says that bill which contained more than $800 billion in new federal spending continues to disappoint Missourians. According to the Eighth District's member of Congress, only $86 million of the state's $974 million in requests from two key transportation grant programs have been fulfilled.
"Hurry up and wait is not a good strategy for stimulating our economy. I opposed the stimulus for two reasons: the spending was irresponsibly high, and I saw no way this money could be spent accountably by the federal government. The administration has proven both of these criticisms to be correct," Emerson said. "We have a real need to spur growth in our rural economy, and we need strong transportation infrastructure not only to create jobs, but also to keep them," Emerson stated.
Cement plants. Don't they have something to do with road construction? Just asking.
Update:
Representative Emerson (r) was there:
Jo Ann Emerson Great grand opening event at Holcim today. More than a billion dollar investment, 2000 construction jobs and 250 permanent jobs. Holcim chose SE Missouri over the entire country for this plant. Thanks to the wonderful workforce we have that made this possible!
Chutzpah!
Correction, June 11, 2010: The White House added the following to their press release on their web site:
CORRECTION: An error in this advisory sent on Friday stated incorrectly that Holcim directly received ARRA funds.
The plant didn't directly receive stimulus funds. Still, all those stimulus infrastructure projects need to be built out of some kind of material, right?
White House Releases State-by-State Estimates of Jobs Funded Through the Education Jobs Bill Chairman Miller Urges Congress to Act Quickly to Prevent Students from Losing a Year of Learning
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the White House released state-by-state estimates of the number of jobs that will be saved or created through the $23 billion Education Jobs Fund, that is included as emergency spending in the FY2010 Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The $23 billion emergency investment will help fund an estimated 300,000 education jobs across the country, including teachers, librarians, principals, guidance counselors, school cafeteria workers, and janitors, among others.
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and a lead advocate in Congress for education jobs, released the following statement.
"The financial industry collapse has trickled down to local communities in the form of decreased revenues, lost property taxes
and, ultimately, harmful budget cuts to school districts across the country. Without immediate action, our students and teachers stand to suffer the consequences of a system breakdown in which they played no part. If we balk now and let our students lose a year of learning in our schools because of the of financial scandals, it will be a scandal on the Congress."
"These budget cuts would punish teachers, devastate communities and set back the significant progress students have made since the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Keeping teachers in classrooms and educators in schools is part of a larger strategy of getting Americans back to work. By investing this emergency money to save jobs, we prevent further turmoil by keeping unemployment and COBRA costs from spiraling out of control and creating more burden on local communities...."
Estimates of Jobs Funded Under
Teacher Jobs Bill*
All Funding Directed to K - 12
Council of Economic Advisers
May 2010
Missouri 7,194
Total 313,471
Sources: State - level funding estimates from Department of Education; compensation estimates based on National Center for Education Statistics data.
*These estimates should be viewed as provisional and subject to margins of error.
And this definitely has local impact. From the Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal:
Warrensburg - Teacher cutbacks and program reductions face students returning in the 2010-11 school year and cuts could worsen, district
administrators reported Monday.
The board-approved plan to slash spending by more than $1.5 million affects every district school....
At a meeting with "local job creators" at Consolidated Machine and Welding in Hannibal, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-7th) spread a little of the usual Republican B.S. about the effects of the stimulus:
The selfishness of what the government is doing and realizing that it is wrong and unsustainable and probably in that order. Even if it was sustainable, it's wrong to decide we're going to spend whatever we want and we're going to let someone else figure out how to pay ...
Kind of incoherent, but I think I know what he's trying to say - and what I want to know is why didn't anybody tell Blunt that the stimulus is working? According to a recent article in the National Journal:
If the economy produces jobs over the next eight months at the same pace as it did over the past four months, the nation will have created more jobs in 2010 alone than it did over the entire eight years of George W. Bush's presidency.
Thanks to the massive job losses of the Bush recession, we won't be out of the woods for a long time, but a good case can be made that Pat Garofalo of Think Progress is justified in claiming that the continuing improvement "is a strong sign that the economic stimulus package passed last year is doing what it is supposed to."
And guess what? Garofalo adds that contrary to the standard Republican talking point when confronted with job growth statistics, most of the new jobs were not in the public, but in the private sector - an important indicator that the economy is turning around. In all, 523,000 new jobs have been added in the private sector in the first four months of 2010.
Even the slight uptick in unemployment to 9.9% is less disappointing than in the past since, according to White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer, "such a rise in the labor force often occurs in recoveries as workers who had dropped out of the labor force are drawn back in by improved employment opportunities." Further reinforcing the meme of a recovering job market, The Wall Street Journalnotes:
More U.S. workers quit their jobs than were laid off in March, the second month in a row this occurred and a sign of employees' growing confidence that more positions are becoming available in a slowly recovering job market.
If Roy Blunt wants to keep on blathering abut the stimulus and the debt burden for future generations, somebody really ought to give him a few facts about the relationship between debt and economic growth. It's simple really - if we create jobs now and grow the economy, there will be less debt for future generations, not more.
If all that was necessary for recovery was, in Roy's words, for "government to step aside and let Main Street employers create the jobs that are needed most," we wouldn't be in the mess that we are in now - after all, it was eight years of laissez faire, hands-off, and every man for himself that got us into the mess we're in in the first place - and all the desperate lies of sad, ideologically irrelevant pols like poor old Roy can't really change that fact. The truth always comes out in the end.
Stimulus money gives scientific research at local universities a boost
......But among officials at the area's major universities, there has been no debate about the value of the program. They all say the funding has made a big difference in starting up or continuing important research that benefits everyone.
Missourians are enterprising people. We don't need the govt to create jobs. We'll create jobs if govt will move over. #RoyBluntBusTour
Before we let Mr. Blunt get away with this, there are a few inconvenient facts that he needs to explain.
As of December 2009, Missouri's unemployment rate was 9.6%, very close to the highest ever recorded rate of 10.3% in 1983. That miserable statistic, of course, is the result of the deepest national recession since the great depression, brought to us, as all honest economists agree, by the tax and regulation cutting GOP. The lowest unemployment rate recorded in Missouri was 2.3% in 2000, under the liberal Mel Carnahan, during the last years of the liberal Clinton administration.
When Roy's son, little Matty, ascended to the Missouri statehouse, he along with his Republican legislative enforcers in Jefferson City brought unemployment to highs of 6-8%. Doesn't actually inspire confidence in Mr. Blunt's grandiose claims about what he and his anti-government fellow travelers can achieve, does it?
Of course, there's also the inconvenient fact that government interference in the form of the stimulus, maligned as it is by good old boys like Roy, probably saved our goose - even though it's still a skinny old bird. The question is whether or not the likes of Roy Blunt, touting their failed economic theology, are the people to fatten the goose back up and give us some of those golden eggs.
...an astroturf "populist" lobbyist, and a few ankle biters.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D) busted the chops of the republican leadership of the Missouri General Assembly over their hypocrisy when it comes to using federal money. The Twitter flurry started on February 10th.
Sent letter yestrday askng budget chairs in Mo legis what programs they'd cut if they didn't have almost billion $ in stimulus this year. 8:58 AM Feb 10th from web
They dnt wnt the stimulus $$ but if MO residents r paying @clairecmc 's earmark big debt bill, how cld they not spend it? RT @ChadLivengood 2:15 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc now that gun has bn held 2 leg head, they r n box. Ur vote forced Missourians 2 pay 4 the big debt so how cld leg not spend $$? 2:19 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc Leg shld not have spent $$ 2 begin with, MO wld pay taxes 4 ur vote 2 indebt them. They shld start by not spending $$ on HB22. 2:22 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc my point is using orig $$ which they hd no real choice 2 do places them in a hole. I wld sprt tkng $$ bck & hvng thm mke decisns 2:33 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc U ddnt ask how they wld spnd b4 voting 2 put MOians n debt so asking now is pol. Vote 2 pull remaining $$ & lt thm do thr job. 2:44 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
@clairecmc decisions 2 cut always tuf but stimulus $$ jst delayed it & now made decisions harder. 2:45 PM Feb 10th from TweetDeck
Senator McCaskill finishes with:
Going forward,if we pull back unspent stimulus $, how will the budget in #MO be balanced? Who will take the billion $ cut?Impt to be honest 2:24 PM Feb 10th from web
The usual right wingnut suspects - teabaggers, tenthers, and numerous and sundry members of the political lunatic fringe join the fray:
They complain, they say they're a'gin it, they show up on the Faux News Channel to mouth unintelligible random health care obstruction talking points, but when it comes down to it, Missouri republicans, in all their hypocrisy, will still take the check. Senator Claire McCaskill (D) called their bluff:
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill sent a letter today to leaders in the Missouri State Capitol asking for their input on whether the federal government should rescind previously passed but as of yet unspent aid for state governments that was part of the federal stimulus bill. In the letter, she also asks whether additional aid from the federal government for state governments should be provided during these difficult economic times.
As the state begins to determine budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2011, McCaskill is asking leaders in Jefferson City for more information on how federal aid is being used in this year's state budget, as well as what programs and services the state would cancel in next year's budget if the federal government chooses not to extend any additional aid.
"Washington doesn't know best," McCaskill wrote in an open letter to state elected officials. "That's why three-fourths of the [stimulus] money has gone to the states, tax cuts, and unemployment and COBRA benefits. If you want us to rescind the remaining money that you will spend this year and next, please let me know how Missourians will be hurt, so I can make an informed decision."
McCaskill, who has fought against bad spending habits in Washington over the last three years, has heard from many state legislators that they are unhappy that the federal government provided financial aid to states last year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, since the state government is required to balance their budget, they used approximately $1.5 billion of this federal aid in their Fiscal Year 2010 budget and are set to use $858 million in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. McCaskill also asked for clarity on what areas of state budget would have been cut last year had the lawmakers not had available the $1.5 billion in federal aid...
...Although McCaskill sent the request as an open to letter to all state legislators, she also sent individual copies to the leadership of both the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives.
Okay, that's a start. It would have been nice if our Democratic members of Congress had acted like, you know, Democrats nine months ago.
And, as for those republicans in control of everything in Jefferson City, are they willing to play chicken with Missouri's economy and the quality of life for everyone in the state?
President Obama participated in a lengthy give and take with House republicans at their obstructionism planning session "issues conference" in Baltimore, Maryland today. The republicans made the mistake of agreeing to broadcast the event. Absolutely brilliant miscalculation on their part.
It's nice to actually have a President who can think. Then again, the environmental contrast was stark.
"...But if you were to listen to the debate and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot. No, I mean, that's how you guys -- (applause) -- that's how you guys presented it...."
For a second there I forgot Marsha Blackburn was an idiot, then she wouldn't stop editorializing. :( #cspanObama/GOP q & a about 1 hour ago from UberTwitter
Roy Blunt just won't stop twittering; most recently:
Made case on the panel that cap & tax, govt-run health care, failed stimulus will be big issues in MO & across country. People are fed up.
Damm straight, Roy, I'm fed up!
Fed up with cute little slogans like "cap-and-tax" and the coy fools who use them.
Fed up with politicians who refuse to acknowledge reality.
And you better believe I'm fed up with Republican lies and obstruction ... and by the beneficiaries of big bucks lobbyists who try to manipulate the fears of the terminally ignorant so that they can go on congressional panels and talk about all the trouble that will be stirred up if legislators actually try to do the people's business for once.
Most of us have heard our more retrograde legislators and cable news pontificators gleefully proclaim the stimulus a failure - despite evidence that it softened the recession fallout considerably (see also here). Wiser observers, such as the Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman, note that more rather than less stimulus was what was really needed if we wanted to give the economy the boost required to rev up the jobs engine:
What we're in right now is the aftermath of a giant financial crisis, which typically leads to a prolonged period of economic weakness - and this time isn't different. A bolder economic policy early this year might have led to a turnaround, but what we actually got were half-measures. As a result, unemployment is likely to stay near its current level for a year or more.
Sadly, Krugman is probably correct when he notes that efforts to augment the stimulus with realistic job-creation measures will probably fall victim to the current political climate. The result, according to Krugman, will be "years of terrible job markets, combined with political paralysis."
Krugman's grim observations were brought vividly home to me when I came across Claire McCaskill's comments on the topic of a potential Senate jobs bill:
I think we've got to be really careful in thinking we can spend government money to get us out of recession," said Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, who called for low-interest loans for small businesses.
Nothing too cringeworthy in that pious little observation - but nothing too promising in the vision and courage departments either.
Yep, that republican meme is getting circulated all right. They've got to be joking. Their unregulated free market pseudo-capitalism hasn't been working out so well lately. But then again, they are humorless and they never joke about this stuff.
Captured image from an on-line advertisement spreading the republican anti-stimulus meme.
...More than 100 people first gathered in Mill Creek Park in snow and subfreezing weather...
..."I don't like the socialism piece of it," she said as some passing cars honked in support of the signs...
[emphasis added]
There's that "socialism" meme. Where has she been for the previous eight years? Just asking. I suppose it's not "socialism" when the top one per cent and political cronies of those in power benefit. Working people and the poor must be another story.
The inconvenient fact that most people in the country support the stimulus plan must really chap their "anti-socialist" asses.
In typical fashion, Kit Bond is heading on the road today to take credit for getting $40 million for low-income housing in Missouri, when he not only voted against the bill, but also trashed it as the "trillion dollar" baby. While the bill was being debated, he also tried to claim we were on his side in opposition at a rate of 4 to 1, without evidence. Isn't there, say, a union local or two in Southwest Missouri who could meet Bond and shame him for his opposition to the stimulus package?
This is on the heels of Blaine Luetkemeyer touting increased Pell grants in his district even after he voted against the bill.
Here's a newsflash for you, Walter Kronkite. You do not get to take credit for a bill that you opposed.
As Michael noted, Claire McCaskill is now defending herself against Krugman on Twitter:
Just saw Krugman's comments on reduction in recov act. Question for him. Would no stimulus act be better than one thats 800 B instead of 900.
She follows that up with
Compromise had to happen or we would NOT have 60 votes. Period.
And for further evidence of how much the bill is the same, she claims:
Original Senate bill was 60% appropriationss, 40%tax cuts. Compromise was 58, 42.Senate bill is 90% the same as House bill.
I'm glad that's she expressing herself here, and that we're able to somewhat have a dialogue. But I'm not sure how much in good faith it is. McCaskill began by stating how glad she was that they got a $100 billion cut out of the bill, that the "silly stuff" that Republicans didn't like is now out. She then switches to a passive aggressive mode in defending the cuts - it's basically the same bill and it wouldn't have made it through the Senate - but glosses her own role in making the cuts. From the way she talks about the bill, wouldn't she have been among those voting against the bill if the cuts hadn't been made and new non-stimulative tax cuts hadn't been added in?
UPDATE: One of the last tweets from the only Twitter feed McCaskill is following (which is her press secretary's):
So glad that Claire was part of this moderate team Nelson is calling "the jobs squad". Very cool. Hopefully the others will see this is best 6:33 PM Feb 6th from web
...And another tweet from McCaskill's press secretary approvingly points to an awful article by Dana Milbank about how McCaskill, Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and the other "moderates" are workhorses trying to get the bill done, while everyone else, including Harry Reid and Barack Obama, are just show ponies trying to get attention.
At a meeting with 
Roy Blunt just won't stop twittering; 
Most of us have heard our more retrograde legislators and cable news pontificators gleefully proclaim the stimulus a failure - 
Krugman's grim observations were brought vividly home to me when I came across Claire McCaskill's 
