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Roll Call: Voinovich Out of ‘Compromise’ Talks

And Susan Collins Sounds Less Optimistic As well

By: Brian Faughnan (Diary)  |  February 6th, 2009 at 03:13 PM  | 

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Roll Call (subscription required) reports that George Voinovich has bowed out of the compromise discussions and Susan Collins is no longer as optimistic about passing the bill today.

It’s not clear from the article whether Collins has gotten more pessimistic because she didn’t like the Democratic offer — about which she offered no comment — or simply because losing Voinovich makes it tougher.

Voinovich Drops Out of Stimulus Talks
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has pulled out of negotiations on a bipartisan compromise on the Senate’s economic stimulus bill.

Three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) — continue to negotiate with Democrats, but Voinovich’s departure could make it more difficult for Democrats to reach the 60 votes they need to pass the bill.

Voinovich left a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) office around 2:30 p.m., saying he did not believe there was a deal he could agree to on an amendment that would cut as much as $100 billion from the more than $920 billion measure.

“I’ve really tried to work on this, but the three things that it should be timely, that it should be temporary and it should be targeted, that was something that I looked at,” Voinovich said. “It just doesn’t meet my criteria, and I feel very sorry because I think the Majority Leader has his responsibility, and he’s got his Members that he has to take care of.”

Voinovich said he could not get past his objections to fund school construction in the bill, and he wanted the measure to include more money for highway construction.

“They can’t seem to get it through there that right now what we need is a program that will create jobs,” Voinovich said.

Collins said, “We received a counter-offer from the Democrats and we’re going to review it.” She would not discuss details of the offer.

When asked how she felt about the bill’s prospects for passage before the weekend, Collins said, “not as good as I felt earlier.””

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  • Kowalski

    Time to vote no, and urge your Congresspeeps to vote no. I was holding out until the bitter end, hoping we were going to get some intelligent movement out of the Democrats, but nothing of the kind has happened.

    Vote No.

  • TxCon

    when he made his announcement?

  • KeepOhioRed

    Been trying to reach his office because I know what a RINO he can be. Got right through to my other Senators number (Brown-D).

  • Crowe

    If the idea is to get them to vote against the bill, would it make more sense to tell a Dem Senator’s staffer that it is a bad bill because all that special interest spending won’t be in the least bit stimulative, or because the tax cuts in it are unacceptable at a time when we need the government to have more resources, not less, to create jobs…?

    Which line should I go with when trying to get a Dem to vote the right way? The principled and correct one? Or the ridiculous one that is more likely to speak to their idiotic notions about economic recovery?

    • Brian Hibbert

      If you tell them that you think they shouldn’t reduce taxes, it might re-enforce the idea for them on the next bill.

  • Martin Knight
    • E Pluribus Unum

      In the car sales analogy, moderates are people who go into the dealership fully intending to leave in a new car.

      Ultimately a deal will be had, and they will most likely have gotten fleeced. They will not, and cannot, leave the table.

    • Achance

      ain’t really in that “hail fellow well met” character. Practically every new elected or appointed official I ever worked for right off the bat told me something along the lines of, “don’t get any grievances.” Well, I know how to do that – give them whatever they want. Even that only works for so long cause you really can’t give them enough to keep them happy.

      Occasionally one shows up in a legislature with real negotiations skills. He/she either takes over the place or gets very quickly run off.

      • Mike gamecock DeVine

        as a trial lawyer. I had to win cases and get confident enough to walk away from the table, knowing I would beat them in front of a jury and when I really got good was when they knew it and caved.

        • Achance

          as an advocate were those without the authority or confidence to negotiate a resolution. They would take cases to hearing that they should have settled and I’d beat them like a rented mule. My favorites were the union reps that thought they were defense attornies and tried to make their obviously guilty grievant as pure as the driven snow while saying, prove it. Well, my standard ain’t resonable doubt it’s preponderance or at most something like clear and convincing for a dismissal or big suspension. So, arbitrator or ALJ has a choice between the union saying let him off scott free and my sometimes even unreasonably harsh discipline. They ain’t going to let them off scott free.