McCain: "That's Not Bi-Partisanship"

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz) spoke during the Senate debate today, to discuss the compromised version of the stimulus package.

McCain said: "I don't believe things are going to get better in the
world real soon."

"We need to sit down together before the bill is written, outline the
principles, turn those principles that we share into concrete
legislation and work together, and I hope we never again have a
repetition of a bill of such enormous consequence that would pass
through both bodies with literally no Republican support.”

McCain added: "Three Senators out of 178 [Republicans] in the House and 40 here in the United States Senate. That's not bi-partisanship."  

"I hope the American people respond again by sending us the message,
they want us to address the economic woes we face, and they want us to
address them together. This legislation, in my view, is very, very bad
for the economic future of America," McCain concluded.

Endless delay won’t get the job done

President Barack Obama spoke at a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

After losing nearly 600,000 jobs in the past month alone, the President said that, “We’ve had a good debate.  Now it’s time to act.  That’s why I am calling on Congress to pass this bill immediately.  Folks here in Elkhart and across America need help right now, and they can’t afford to keep on waiting for folks in Washington to get this done.”

Some of the critics of the bill say that jobs being created will only be government jobs, but according to the President, nearly 80,000 jobs will be created in Indiana and more than 90% of those will be in the private sector.

During the question and answer session, people wanted to know where the money will be going, and the President said that a website will be created at recovery.gov which will give people a report on how the money is being spent.

The President said that “I also can’t tell you with one hundred percent certainty that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hope.  But I can tell you with complete confidence that endless delay or paralysis in Washington in the face of this crisis will bring only deepening disaster.”

The President wants tax-cuts to go to the middle class and said that, “When you give a tax break to working families they will spend it,” and “When you give it to the wealthier families they just put it away somewhere, so it’s not circulating in the economy.”

“We know that even with this plan, the road ahead won’t be easy.  This crisis has been a long time in the making, and we know that we cannot turn it around overnight.  Recovery will likely be measured in years, not weeks or months.  But we also know that our economy will be stronger for generations to come if we commit ourselves to the work that needs to be done today.  And being here in Elkhart, I am more confident than ever before that we will get where we need to be.” said President Obama.

by Suzia van Swol, Talk Radio News Service-University of New Mexico

Gingrich surprised by Obama’s approach to governing

At a panel discussion Friday afternoon at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative panel chaired by Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich discussed the life of Ronald Reagan, and the current state of American politics. Gingrich said that he is surprised by President Obama’s strategy in dealing with the economic recovery package because Obama has neither been exclusively partisan or bipartisan but has been going between the two extremes day by day. Gingrich continued that the Republican stand in the House against the President’s economic stimulus plan “has absolutely revitalized the Republican base in this country,” and that President Obama is rushing through something he will have to live with for the rest of his Presidency.

Pelosi discusses Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) at press conference

During the weekly press conference, Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggles to answer a question about Congressman Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) who {indicated that he got encouragement for his position/crusade against the spending} of the stimulus package.

by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

White House Briefing

With election day two weeks away, why hasn't the president been campaigning for John McCain? White House spokesperson Dana Perino says Sen. McCain -- who now goes to great lengths to distance himself from Mr. Bush, by saying "I'm not George Bush" - is running his campaign as he sees fit. Besides, Perino says, the president has had a lot on his plate the last few months: notably Russia's invasion of Georgia and the economic crisis. Does this suggest he's too busy to help Sen. McCain? "Not at all," says Perino.

The possibility of a second round of economic stimulus checks is on the White House radar, but with Congress away for the next few weeks, the White House is not expecting anything to happen anytime soon. Does the White House support the idea? "We're open to any and all ideas," Perino says. But she points out the massive $700 billion rescue package approved by Congress and signed by the president is still in the pipeline: "It'll take a while for that to have an impact."

Perino knocked down the The New York Times article claiming President Bush has decided not to close the U.S. Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some 272 detainees are being held. "The president remains committed to closing Guantanamo," she said, "But it is complicated." Perino cited several reasons, including ongoing habeus corpus litigation, military tribunals and the unresolved issue of where to move any detainees that might be released. "Guantanamo would be easy to close," she says, "If you don't care about those issues."