I hope Tennesseans note how one of the other Blue
Dogs in our state voted….Lincoln Davis. (aka Gubernatorial candidate).
Cooper, Blackburn vote against Obama’s stimulus package
Amy Griffith GraydonNashville U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper is one of just 11 Democrats who voted against new President Obama’s proposed economic stimulus plan, which passed Wednesday in a definitive 385-to-35 vote.
“I think everybody knows I’m for Barack. Everybody knows I’ve been reforming Congress. I think this is a very consistent vote,” Cooper told The City Paper Wednesday. “I’m disappointed we weren’t able to persuade enough others to give the bill another editing.”
Cooper is part of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition, and has publicly voiced concerns about the package prior to the vote. Other Tennessee Blue Dogs voted in favor of the package, including Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro; Lincoln Davis, D-Pall Mall; and Rep. John Tanner, D-Union City.
The package, Cooper said, relies on borrowed money. He raised questions about the lack of a plan for paying the sizeable annual interest expenses he believes will be associated with it.
Referring to the bill as a “pork festival,” Cooper blamed members of Congress — and particularly the members of committees of jurisdiction — for transforming Obama’s original proposal into a bill Cooper could not support.
“I love Obama, but I’m disappointed with Congress for its business-as-usual attitude. The bill is loaded with pork. Half of it had nothing to do with stimulus. Only 5 percent has to do with the infrastructure projects that most people in the public think is in the bill. It was the largest bill in American history, by far, and one of the most wasteful,” Cooper said. “It’s likely it will only get worse when it goes to the Senate.”
All House Republicans from Tennessee cast votes in opposition to the plan, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Brentwood).
Blackburn on Wednesday called the program a “spending bill,” rather than stimulus. Big portions of the bill should have been considered through regular order, she said, including $3 billion for prevention and wellness, immunizations and grants, as well as $600 million for the federal government to buy “plug-in cars.” Only 10 percent of the bill would be spent this year, she said, with the rest to be spent between 2009 and 2019.
“A stimulus is to be short-term. It is to be focused. It is to be precision spending, and immediate,” Blackburn said Wednesday. “I think there was bipartisan opposition to this plan because it is a bad plan.”
