Mori Dinauer

A deal was reached on the economic stimulus package, coming out of the Conference Committee at $789 billion — less than either the original House or Senate versions of the legislation. There’s good and bad in the final version but I’d agree with my colleague Tim that overall this is a victory for Barack Obama‘s […]

The Senate voted 61-37 today to approve the $838 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, nearly identical to last night’s cloture vote. Today’s extra vote was from NRSC Chair John Cornyn, who decided his time was better spent last night at the Monday Meeting with media conservatives and Wall Street Republican donors. A review committee […]

Stimulus roundup: Another Republican senator proposes replacing the entire economic recovery package with a trillion-dollar tax cut, Matt Yglesias finds among the various atrocities of the Senate centrist wing praise for the stimulus’ supposed benefits for education while the actual “compromise” slashes funding, Mike Tomasky calls the stimulus bill a “triumph” while Paul Krugman blames […]

After a week of setbacks (Tom Daschle withdrawing, the Senate centrist hostage situation), a campaign-vintage Barack Obama gave mostly extemporaneous remarks and a direct challenge to Republican churlishness at the annual House Democrats retreat in Williamsburg, VA (video here). What remains to be seen is whether the fired up president on display for a receptive […]

Yesterday, it appeared as though Republicans were winning the policy debate over the stimulus, the Obama administration had fallen victim to its hubris over bipartisanship, and that Senate Democrats lacked the votes to even pass the legislation in the first place. Today, the bluff of a group of “centrists” to strip $80-100 billion from the […]

The Washington Post reports that the economic stimulus package might not have enough votes to pass in the Senate, although it isn’t clear whether these are cloture or floor votes. But the inescapable reality is that the minority party is now controlling the destiny of the stimulus package and President Obama‘s well-intentioned efforts at “bipartisanship” […]

Tom Daschle surprisingly withdrew himself from consideration in Barack Obama‘s cabinet, reportedly telling the president that a New York Times editorial calling for him to step down convinced him that his tax problems would be a distraction that would hurt the cause of health care reform. The good news for health care reform, as Greg […]

On Friday it was reported that Tom Daschle, President Obama‘s Health and Human Services director-designate, belatedly paid over $100,000 in back taxes which was later discovered not to have been disclosed to the Obama transition team. There was some speculation that this might imperil Daschle’s chances for Senate confirmation, but the Finance Committee Chairman, Max […]

President Obama signed executive orders today reversing much of the Bush administration’s anti-labor policies and announced that Vice President Joe Biden would head a middle class task force that will rely on leadership from economist Jared Bernstein. In addition, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill has introduced a bill that would put a cap on the extravagant […]

Yesterday, House Republicans — along with 11 Democrats — unanimously voted against the economic stimulus package despite President Obama‘s multiple outreach efforts. Yes, I know, shocking. Some reactions: Greg Sargent asks the question I was thinking about, namely when will Obama start using the bully pulpit against the Republicans? Nate Silver describes The Republican Death […]