Over in the Rochester Post Bulletin, Mike Dougherty reports in Walz worries about stimulus plan cuts:
It's been nearly two weeks since the House approved an $818 billion bill aimed at helping the country's economic recovery.
So now, as he waits to watch the vote in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday on its $827 billion package, 1st District Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, says there's an urgency to get it passed quickly.
"It's healthy to have debate," Walz said this morning. "The Senate is in a position to move on this, but it just doesn't seem like they understand the urgency of this."
The Senate has been debating the elements of the stimulus package and news reports indicate a compromise had been reached to move the bill to the floor for a vote on Tuesday. Negotiators cut more than $100 billion from the original Senate version. The final vote is scheduled for Tuesday about noon, with 60 votes required for passage. Three Republicans have joined Democrats, according to reports.
Walz said some of the provisions that were trimmed in the Senate version could mean layoffs in schools and cuts to law enforcement. Those are elements he'll be seeking to keep in the reconciling of the bills. He said it's the same thing he's heard in listening sessions with local officials across the 1st District.
"Now is the time to invest," he said.
Meanwhile, President Obama is setting off for Indiana today, holding his first prime-time news conference on tonight before heading to Florida on Tuesday. In both states, he will be working to pick up more Republican votes for his $800 billion recovery package and to take greater control of the debate. He also is hoping to refill his reservoir of political capital, and confidence, after a bruising week in the White House.
We've already noted today that the most recent Gallup poll indicates that Americans are pleased with Obama and displeased with Congressional Republicans. That's probably not what is worrying Congressman Walz.
Rather, it's the staggering job losses, graphically illustrated in this chart (reproduced above) at the Big Picture in terms of numbers of vanished jobs, or in this one at Calculated Risk, that considers at percentages. Year-over-year employment is strongly negative. Neither chart displays projections, but is based on reported employment.
Cue local Republicans to repeat talking points that they get from the Limbaugh, Hannity, and the GOP: an iron triangle of stimulus misinformation.
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