TPMDC brings you the news: The Senate moderate faction wants to slice some $79 billion from the stimulus package. They want to avoid a filibuster by cutting the bill further to reach a total of about $100 billion dollars. While avoiding a filibuster is necessary -- and it remains unclear if Reid has the votes without these cuts -- I'm not sure that this is the right the way to do it; the bill may be passable without subtracting things like $24.8 billion in state stabilization money for education. State aid is absolutely critical to the overarching purpose of this bill -- stimulating the economy -- because it will prevent state governments, which cannot deficit spend, from cutting services and jobs. There are some spending initiatives that represent good public policy goals, like cyber security research, that could be cut from the bill in order to gain votes without compromising its purpose. It's not clear to me whether the Collins-Nelson crew is making these distinctions or just looking for programs that lack a strong constituency. Today's vote on this amendment will be critical to determining the overall direction of the bill and whether or not it passes tomorrow. UPDATE: Well, that was fast: "Nelson Backing Off Proposed Stimulus Cuts."
-- Tim Fernholz
