[Kosh]

Back to the same old routine

pdabbadabba points out a CNN report on changes to the planned economic stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [PDF]) that will remove the $2 billion allocated to broadband development. The changes also eliminated smaller amounts allocated to NASA, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the National Science Foundation. $16 billion in school construction funding was removed, as well as another $3.5 billion for higher education construction. A variety of environmental projects were also cut or reduced (half of the $7 billion set aside for energy-efficient federal buildings, half of the $600 million for hybrid federal vehicles), and over $8 billion in health-related provisions are gone. The bill will likely go to vote in the Senate on Tuesday.

Granted this is just the senate version, but this doesn't bode well for the future.

[Turambar]

At this point, **** bipartisan-ness.  Democrats have enough votes to get these things through without one frakkin republi**** vote, so ditch them, give me higher taxes, and give me the godsdamned broadband

[Bob-san]

I say just clean the damn bill up to the core and allocate all those other funds in other bills.

[Solatar]

When the democrats say "bipartisan" they really mean "Republicans must agree with our side or be labeled partisan".

That's not really going to occur, so I don't know why they're so stuck on that happening.

[Kosh]

When the democrats say "bipartisan" they really mean "Republicans must agree with our side or be labeled partisan".

That's not really going to occur, so I don't know why they're so stuck on that happening.

The Republicans are no different in that regard.

[iamzack]

Why's anyone surprised? They removed all the funding for family planning before they even tried to pass it.

[Solatar]

When the democrats say "bipartisan" they really mean "Republicans must agree with our side or be labeled partisan".

That's not really going to occur, so I don't know why they're so stuck on that happening.

The Republicans are no different in that regard.

At this point I'm not claiming one is better than the other, just that the Democrats need to stop trying to be "bipartisan". Like Nancy Pelosi said "We won the election, we wrote the bill". Nothing bipartisan about it, and I don't know why they're trying to make it so.

[Charismatic]

Nasa's budget gets cut again..

[BengalTiger]

At this point, **** bipartisan-ness.  Democrats have enough votes to get these things through without one frakkin republi**** vote, so ditch them, give me higher taxes, and give me the godsdamned broadband

Didn't the Reps vote against something recently, as a whole party? AFAIK it didn't stop the Dems from approving the stimulus package.

What we see now, ladies and gents, is pure Democrat government: Senate, House of Representatives, and now POTUS all belong to them. The Republicans don't have much influence on what's currently being created. I'd even say they don't have any influence at all, as they can either agree, disagree and be called partisian, or vote present, and the Dems will do whatever they want regardless.

[Kosh]

What we see now, ladies and gents, is pure Democrat government: Senate, House of Representatives, and now POTUS all belong to them.

We had 6 years of the republicans controlling the white house, the house of representatives, and the senate. They failed, and what we ended up getting was massive incompetence (Katrina anyone?), corruption, and cronyism. We're bleeding to death financially from Iraq and their 8 years of reckless overspending (so much for small government) combined with tax cuts for the rich. The economy is in a flaming death spiral, we alienated the world, what is there not to like about pure republican governments?

[iamzack]

Isn't the Supreme Court still in Republican hands? I haven't been paying attention. :\

I think I have changed my mind. I do prefer Democrats to Republicans, if only because Democrats will let me kill little people that think it's cool to hang around in my abdomin and make me fat.

[Nissan]

Nasa's budget gets cut again..

Yeah, early in 2008 Obama said he was planning to push Project Constellation back by five years, and use the money that would've gone to that to fund his education plans.  He changed his mind just before the election and said he wouldn't, but it's pretty clear space exploration isn't a priority for him.

Granted, there are more pressing concerns right now, so it's hard to totally blame him for that.  It's still kinda frustrating though...

[General Battuta]

Science funding survives stimulus cuts.

Say goodbye to 'so much for stimulating science and tech'.