Word: democratizers
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...weeks ago, when Reid yanked a bipartisan jobs bill that was hammered out by Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Chuck Grassley, it looked like he was on course to do the same thing he did with health care reform: pull a bipartisan deal and replace it with a partisan bill. But that barely worked when the Democrats had 60 votes - so how could Reid hope to ram something through now, when he's one vote short of stopping a Republican filibuster? (See pictures of Republican memorabilia...
...Republicans Wednesday votes for passage of the measure, which includes tax incentives for employers who hire and money for highway construction. That gave Reid his first victory since the passage of health care reform on Christmas Eve. Reid's strategy was "perfect," says Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, who adds that it "smoked out people on the merits of the proposition because we kept it small and simple. And I think the more we can do pieces of legislation that are easily explained and easily understood, the harder it is for [Republicans] to keep playing the game they...
...jobs by modernizing aerospace infrastructure; and "meaningful" infrastructure investments, including, possibly, energy programs. "Every time you add something to a bill, there are some people who think that you bring support on - maybe you do, but you probably get support lopping off," says Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat. "And so I've always felt that with certain legislation, you ought to do it incrementally, because you're a lot more likely to get people to be supportive of, let's say, 70% of it. You put it all together in one package, you can't get it done...
...Still, endangered Democratic incumbents don't mind that the strategy keeps the jobs agenda out front in the news each week, especially if Democrats can keep winning votes. And in the meantime, Democratic Senators are riding high on their one - at least on paper - bipartisan victory. "I hope that a few of those Republicans who decided to vote to move the process forward on job creation would do so as well with health care," says Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat. "Because we have an opportunity to move forward now. Everyone's at the table, and there's no excuse...
...silence is surprising given that disagreements about abortion coverage almost scuttled health reform in the House last fall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn't able to gather sufficient votes to pass the health reform bill until after she struck a deal with pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak to allow a vote on his amendment that would prohibit plans that cover abortion in an insurance exchange from receiving federal subsidies. The House voted to approve the amendment's tough language, which became part of the final bill. Even so, heading into the health summit, no one - from the White House...