Word: nelsons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...over President Bush's judicial appointments. In 2008 he guided the Gang of 10's work on a compromise regarding offshore drilling. And this week the two-term Senator has been spearheading a group of negotiators to find a bipartisan solution on the more than $900 billion stimulus bill. Nelson won't provide an exact number of Senators involved in these talks, coyly trying to avoid yet another gang label. (Enterprising reporters have counted conferees going in - there are 18, including six Republicans.) The talks dragged on well into Thursday evening, and they could yield a legislative victory for Obama...
...moderates are united in their disdain for what they consider extraneous spending in the massive economic package, which most Republicans are unwilling to support. Nelson and his Republican partner, Maine Senator Susan Collins, compiled a list all of the programs in which the Congressional Budget Offices estimated that less than 10% of funds would be spent in the first 18 months. From that list they selected about $100 billion in programs, mostly in education, state aid and science that, while perhaps worthy pursuits, they don't believe belong in the stimulus bill. At the same time, the coalition has also...
...Nelson says these talks, aimed at winning the backing of a filibuster-proof majority of at least 60 senators, have been the most complex he's engaged in. "The Gang of 14 was focused on a particular target, and that was to avoid the nuclear option," Nelson said in an interview with TIME. "Here, not everybody is supportive of a stimulus package to begin with, and all of us have questions about the amount and what's in the package. When that's the case, the number of differing opinions that you have multiplies...
...biggest sticking point for the moderate gang has been whether the Federal Government should grant states aid for education. "As a former governor, I didn't like it when [the Federal Government meddled with education] because they never funded it completely," Nelson said. "I'm prepared to make some adjustment in my attitude toward that if we can be sure that whatever we do on the federal level is temporary...
...finalized compromise: the group might tolerate some form of education funding for cash-strapped states as long as it doesn't create a new permanent mandate. "The challenge is to bring enough Republicans over to make it bipartisan, given some differences of opinion about education being in the bill," Nelson said. "But what we would hope is that both the Democrats and the Republicans decide that it is the best interest of the country to develop a consensus where everybody gives and everybody takes some...