They’re voting on amendments to the stimulus bill in the U.S. Senate today. You call see the roll calls here. So far, the Republicans have objected to two Democratic efforts to add new spending. Sens. Murray and Feinstein tried to add billions more in transportation spending only to be confronted with a point of order that required 60 votes to overcome. They received only 58 votes, as Kennedy and Gregg did not vote and Franken isn’t yet seated (if he ever will be). Sen. Mikulski’s amendment to introduce tax cuts to incentivize new car purchases faced the same point of order roadblock, but she overcame it with a bipartisan 71 votes. Tom Coburn’s amendment to strip out money for the struggling Hollywood studios passed with a mere 52 votes. It wasn’t subject to a point of order because it did not create a larger budget deficit.
At first, I was concerned that Harry Reid had gamed the votes against himself, as he did during the FISA/Telecom Immunity fiasco. But all the amendments are equal in the sense that they will pass with a bare majority. The problem arises for amendments that increase federal obligations without matching offsets. Using the point of order, the Republicans can force a 60 vote threshold on any vote that has more spending than spending cuts. Anything that reduces the budget is passable with a mere 50 votes. If there is blame to be assigned, it should go to Democrats that introduce new spending without finding a way to pay for it in other areas of the enormous federal budget.