The members of the conference committee for the “stimulus” package have been named. Neither Specter, Collins, nor Snowe is on it. This strikes me as a little strange, since passage depends on getting two of their three votes. President Obama is pushing hard to restore all of the cuts made in the Senate bill, which Specter and Collins say would be unacceptable.
So how does this play out? My guess is the conference committee will restore most of the cuts in the Senate bill, while preserving the increases in the Senate bill. Specter and the ladies from Maine will then have to decide whether to join a filibuster. My guess is they will not, and will grasp at some meaningless fig leaf to save face.
I further predict that Specter will decide to retire in 2010, rather than fight an uphill battle for the nomination from a very angry Republican party.
UPDATE: It looks like I guessed wrong, that the conference bill is ever-so-slightly less irresponsible than it might have been, but we’ll need to see the details to be sure.
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