The 57-41 vote fell three votes short of the 60 required to crack a GOP filibuster, delivering a major blow to President Barack Obama and Democrats facing big losses of House and Senate seats in the fall election.
The rejected bill would have provided $16 billion in new aid to states, preserving the jobs of thousands of state and local government workers and providing what White House officials called an insurance policy against a double-dip recession.
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Since a vote requires three-fifths of the Senate (60 members), and since there are only 40 Republicans, the measure didn't fail solely because of Republicans.
ReplyDeleteThe question confronting all 100 members, 57 of whom appear to have disregarded it, is: "Who pays for this?"
Another question that should be asked is why there is a need to "preserve state and local government workers." The operative word there is "government".