Reid Gets Victory on Stimulus II

Meredith Jessup | February 22, 2010 8:37 PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid squeaked out a victory for Dems today when the Senate narrowly voted (62-30) to break a GOP filibuster on a "jobs bill" backed by the White House.

Five GOP Senators--including Massachusetts' Scott Brown--voted with the Democrats to move forward on the bill.

With the broken filibuster, the Senate will now proceed on the $15 billion bill aimed at creating jobs. Politico reports:

“I don’t know why any senator would trust Harry Reid after he just killed a bipartisan compromise jobs bill,” said a Republican aide. “He basically dumped a must pass measure with $45 billion in tax relief and said you know what, screw you guys.”

Leadership aides say Reid dropped the Baucus-Grassley bill after intense lobbying from liberals in his caucus who doubted Republicans would actually voted for the measure when it came to the floor.

“I find Republicans a moving target here,” said Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. “I think the leader would have had problems on any bill.”

Top Democrats also wanted to force Republicans to take a tough vote on a key election issue.

A decision by the GOP to block a slimmed-down jobs bill over largely procedural reasons wouldn’t fly with voters, argued top Democrats, who saw an opportunity to slam Republicans as obstructionists. [...]

“While the president is saying we want bipartisan deals, Harry Reid is saying we don’t,” said a Republican aide. “At some point the minority does have to say this isn’t how you legislate, you can’t just ram us through.”