update: bill fails

sad day friends, the jobs bill I was talking up yesterday apparently failed in the senate thereby crushing my dreams. just another day in our nations sadly divided capitol.

 

from the WaPo: "Obama's revised plan failed on a 50-50 test vote that fell well short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. Three Democrats abandoned Obama on the vote and two more who voted with the president said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed."

 

full story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/senate-rejects-slimmed-down-obama-jobs-bill-aimed-at-teachers-and-first-responders/2011/10/20/gIQASEgv1L_story.html

 

lest I leave you in a sad place at the start of the weekend, however, NYMag brings us this fantastic, giggle inducing republican debate (what, they had another one?) recap. Thank you, Michelle Bachman's stylist is really all i can say. Read it at http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/10/cnn_debate_summary.html

Update on S 1723

Update:

 

Having now actually read the full text of the bill, it appears that there is a surtax on millionaires included. While this is awesome and makes my little progressive heart happy (its also sensible, given that the rich have faired much better than the rest of the population in the last decade or so and have seen significant decreases in their tax burden since the clinton years) it means that this bill will definately face some strong opposition.

 

but still, awesome! senate dems... fighting!!

updates from the front

So apprently Harry Reid has decided that we are going to vote on the American Jobs Act (aka the Obama plan), or at least a teensy tiny peice of it. Well since the theme of this Congress has been responding to a huge economic crisis with half-measures that seems appropriate.

 

The bits of the original jobs act which have been chosen to see the light of day can be found in S 1723 (http://lis.gov/cgi-lis/query/z?c112:S.1723:) a scaled down measure focusing on teachers and first responders. Word from the Senate is that this bill should see a vote today or tomorrow (the Senate is on recess all next week so friday is sort of a hard deadline if they want this to move anytime soon) although the Khaddafy story is going to be dominating the news cycle so if they were hoping for coverage they may hold off.

 

Now, you would think that firefighters and kindergarden teachers would be an easy sell, not to mention that whole "create jobs and stabilize the economy" thing that everyone is paying so much lip service to these days. Still, I'm sure republicans will find something to complain about even with this bill which has been hand picked for them. At this point, if Bill Gates and the ghost of Ronald Reagan got together to design a stimulus the right might still reject it as "class warfare". Someone should probably point out that just because someone disagrees with you doesn't make it class warfare. you might just be wrong. but I digress.

 

Anyway, keep an eye out for a senate vote on this first chunk of the jobs bill. If it goes well, we may see this strategy repeated. Then, if we are really lucky, they might even find the guts to fight for some of the more important but less popular measures. ..Ok so that last part probably won't happen. But a girl can dream!

 

Anyway, preventing teacher layoffs and getting a few more early childhood education professionals back to work in our public schools actually seems like a pretty good first step to me. So, I'll stifle my harumphs about not getting everything I want and just hope that this thing passes.

 

I'll do my best to keep ya posted!

back in business

Well folks, I'm back. Life has been all kinds of crazy these past few months, but I'll spare you the details. Suffice to say that this season opens in a new city--Washington D.C.-- where I have temporarily taken up residence. By day, I walk the halls of Congress in suitable business attire in a sadly misguided attempt to convince the world (or maybe myself) that I am a serious human being. Nights belong to a mix of happy hours, ikea furniture assembly (a girl needs furnishings!) and meting out largely benign vigilante justice to the city's most corrupt power brokers, a la city hunter.

The last two days have been delightfully  global. Wednesday evening saw the first meeting of the Washington DC chapter of the International Society of Friends of the Czech-and-Slovak Republics (aka drinks with Anna). We also found a great dive bar which serves, I am told, the cheapest beer in DC. I was told this by an inebriated patron of said bar, which makes the above statement either more or less credible. or both.

Then this morning I rushed out the door to catch the arrival ceremony for South Korean president Lee Myeong Bak. It was touch and go there for a while, but in the end Andie and I did get to stand on the (muddy) white house lawn and watch the proceedings. Here's the highlight reel: marching. band. guns with knives on them. Obama! Obama attempts to speak Korean (too cute). President Lee speaks. at length. end.

I also scored a ticket to LMBs address to congress, courtesy of no one else in my office wanting to go. I got to sit up in the gallery and play spot the senator. Despite being on my best behavior I still managed to get in trouble. for reading. (rebel with a library card over here. look out!)

I also put in an appearance at work somewhere in there, just long enough to tell the excellent and engaged feminists busy calling congress today that yes, that republican anti-choice nonsense was bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Then I hopped over to the Freer Gallery for a free concert they were having. They were featuring an amazing Japanese toko player (it's a large stringed instrument, sort of a Japanese gayagum) who I really enjoyed. And, because it seems no day is complete without a tribute to both my adoptive countries, the evening ended with a piece by Leos Janacek (whose name I can no longer spell properly because I have removed the Czech keyboard from my phone).

And that brings us up to speed, more or less. my life is still absurd and lacking in both roots and a master plan. but at least now it happens (mainly) in english. progress??