Congressional Dems Discover Their Vertebrae

by: David Sirota

Fri Jan 09, 2009 at 12:00

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama's economic recovery plan ran into crossfire from his own party in Congress on Thursday, suggesting that quick passage of spending programs and tax cuts could require more time and negotiation than Democrats once hoped.

Senate Democrats complained that major components of his plan were not bold enough and urged more focus on creating jobs and rebuilding the nation's energy infrastructure rather than cutting taxes.

Further complicating the picture, Democratic senators said Thursday that they would try to attach legislation to the package that would allow bankruptcy courts to modify home loans, a move Republicans have opposed...

While conservatives criticize the high spending, and moderate Democrats express concern about the swelling deficit, liberals are pushing for even more money devoted to social programs, alternative-energy development and road, bridge and school construction.

This is shockingly good news, after a seemingly endless era in which congressional Democrats backed down to every single conservative demand. It's the kind of dynamic I (optimistically) predicted way back in February in an article for In These Times magazine (you should subscribe to the magazine here). Basically, I said that for various reasons, there is a good chance that under an Obama presidency, progressives in Congress would feel more emboldened to legislatively assert themselves. That seems to be starting to happen - and we should all encourage it.

To that end, I suggest you use this tool from the Campaign for American's Future to contact your congressperson and ask them to support as bold an economic recovery package as possible. Now's the time to make our voice heard.