As expected once the cloture vote passed, the Senate passed the stimulus bill. The vote mirrored the cloture vote.
The most interesting part of the story for me is this:
In debate before today's Senate vote, Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) sought to distance the legislation from Obama, who is riding a wave of post-inauguration popularity. He said Republicans had expected Obama to be the author of the stimulus plan. Instead, "it ended up being written by some of the longest-serving Democrats in the House of Representatives, and it showed," McConnell said.
He charged that "Senate Democrats produced a bill that fell so far short" that an eventual compromise "wasn't much better than the original House or Senate bills." Even more worrisome to Republicans than the bill's spending provisions, he said, was "the permanent expansion of government programs" it entails.
"The president was right to call for a stimulus, but this bill misses the mark," McConnell said. "It's full of waste. We have no assurance it will create jobs or revive the economy. The only thing we know for sure is that it increases our debt and locks in bigger and bigger interest payments every single year. In short, we're taking an enormous risk -- an enormous risk -- with other people's money. On behalf of taxpayers, I won't take that risk."
The bill was already in process before Obama was inaugurated, so it isn't his. Republicans know that, at least for now, Obama's honeymoon continues--his approval ratings are in the mid 70s. This isn't case for Democrats in Congress, so they are better off taking them on.
