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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2009 > February > 13
Friday, February 13, 2009
Senate waits for Brown
The Senate is one vote shy of the 60 needed to pass the economic stimulus bill. The last vote needed: Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Brown, D-Ohio, is currently in Ohio, attending the viewing for his mother, Emily Campbell Brown, who died Feb. 2. Brown will fly to Washington, D.C. to cast his vote tonight - in an airplane provided by the White House - then fly back to attend his mother’s funeral tomorrow.
Why the White House ride? Commercial airplanes wouldn’t accommodate the schedule, and the White House provided a plane because it’s official business.
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State budget hearings delayed
State budget junkies will have to hang on a while.
House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, on Friday, Feb. 13, decided to delay next week’s scheduled committee hearings on Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed $54.7 billion, two-year state budget, Keary McCarthy, Budish’s spokesman, said.
The problem: the actual budget bill hasn’t yet been drafted. There may not be an actual blil now until the end of the month.
Republicans have been grousing about holding hearings without an actual piece of legislation to hold on to and were pleased with Budish’s decision.
“We have much work to do and our work should be done using only the most relevant, complete and accurate information available,” Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, said in a press release. “In addition, the people of Ohio should have a full opportuniity to vet this budget and its related proposals.”
Strickland seems fine with the delay.
“The governor respects the legislative process and the decision that the legislature made to delay further hearings until the drafting of the bill has been completed,” said Amanda Wurst, the governor’s spokeswoman.
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Here’s Boehner’s take on the stimulus bill
Here’s House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, today, detailing why he opposes the final version of the economic stimulus bill.
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Local House delegation opposes stimulus bill; Senate to vote later this afternoon
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 246-183 Friday in support of a massive $787 billion bill aimed at building roads, schools and bailing out fiscally distressed states.
The region’s congressional delegation unanimously opposed the bill. U.S. Reps. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, Mike Turner, R-Centerville and John Boehner, R-West Chester, all voted no. Every House Republican voted against the bill.
Boehner, meanwhile, raised cain over the fact that Democrats gave Republicans a little less than 24 hours to read the 1,071-page bill. He also led Republicans in presenting an alternative $478 billion plan that they said would create 246,000 jobs in Ohio and 6.2 million jobs nationally. That alternative was voted down last week.
The Democratic plan that passed is expected to preserve or create 133,000 jobs in the state.
The Senate will vote tonight. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, opposes the bill, though he said in an interview on Thursday he is supportive of funding that would pay state-federal partnerships such as Medicaid and Title I. He was less supportive of a $53.6 billion pot of money to help states out of their fiscal crises, calling it a “slush fund” for governors.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, meanwhile, plans on supporting the bill, but his may be the vote that will put Democrats over the edge to give them the 60 votes they need to pass the bill.
Brown had spent most of Friday in Ohio attending his mother’s wake - she died Feb. 2 at the age of 88 - and was scheduled to fly in for the vote tonight. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would keep the vote open until Brown could vote. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., cannot vote tonight because of his health, and Senate Democrats will rely on Brown and three Republican senators to give them the 60 votes they need to pass the bill and send it to the president this weekend.
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Sherrod Brown could be the winning vote tonight on stimulus
When the U.S. Senate votes tonight on a massive $789 billion economic stimulus bill, Sen. Sherrod Brown will be the center of attention.
Here’s why: Brown’s mother, Emily Campbell Brown, died last week. The funeral is tomorrow, and the wake is today, Friday, Feb. 13. Brown will attend as much of the wake as he can before driving to the airport from Mansfield, hopping on a plane, and casting his vote.
Only three Republicans voted on an earlier version of the bill, and Democrats need all three to give them the 60 votes needed for the bill to pass. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who is suffering from a brain tumor, and is not expected to cast a vote because of health problems. With Kennedy and the three Republicans supporting the bill, they would have 61 votes. Without Kennedy, it’s 60, and Brown’s vote becomes key.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, meanwhile, has signaled he will vote against the bill. And the House will vote at around 1 p.m.
The Senate vote on the stimulus bill is scheduled around 7 p.m. They are expected to hold the vote open in order to allow Brown the chance to vote.
Afterward, he’ll hop on a plane and return home to attend his mother’s funeral on Saturday.
