The House Rules committee is currently clearing H.R. 1 (the stimulus package), and all of the amendments to H.R. 1, for floor votes tomorrow. You can watch the hearing here.
The basic run of play is that Democrats in Congress are charging ahead on the stimulus, while the headlines continue to focus on meetings between President Obama and Republicans leaders in Congress. Elana Schor seems to be correct that Democrats in Congress don't give a rat's ass about Republican whining, and are just moving along, crafting the legislation on their own. This is demonstrated by the Rules Committee hearing, which is about to clear H.R. 1 for a floor vote, even though Republicans are still working on producing an alternative bill.
As Congressional Democrats chug along, the actual Republican strategy is not to offer an alternative, but to:
- Complain about one small aspect of the bill at a time, such as contraception funding, non-existent CBO reports, non-existent earmarks and, now, ACORN.
- Demand that, in the name of bi-partisanship, that small aspect of the stimulus be dropped.
- Secure meetings with Obama, in order for these complaints and demands to appear relevant to the national media.
- Hope that, as Digby notes, Democrats in Congress and / or liberal activists grow publicly angry with President Obama if / when he makes these concessions in order to secure more Republican votes. Thus, Republicans are fulfilling Obama's vision (even though they oppose the stimulus) while Democrats are thwarting it (even though they are writing and supporting the stimulus).
- Rinse, lather, repeat.
The possible achievements of this strategy are minimal. Republicans are not going to defeat the stimulus bill, period. Further, they are not going to pass an alternative stimulus bill with the old pattern of unanimous Republican support, plus Blue Dogs, plus a compliant President. That path is also dead. Still further, they will not get any credit for the bill, even if they sign on to it. The party in power gets the blame or the credit, depending on the success of the legislation passed under their watch.
What they might get are small victories on things like contraception or ACORN, a few irritated lefties, plus a lot of media coverage for their meetings with President Obama. It is petty, but it does scratch a lot of Republican itches.
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