THE UNITED States Senate was moving towards a vote on a massive economic stimulus package last night after Democratic leaders said they had won enough Republican support for the Bill to pass. A group of 15 moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats worked through the day yesterday to reach a compromise that would secure the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster.
The group, led by Maine Republican Susan Collins and Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, sought to strip out about $100 billion of spending plans from the Bill, which had grown to about $900 billion in recent days.
Most Republicans remained opposed to the stimulus plan, complaining that it includes too much spending and not enough tax cuts.
President Barack Obama yesterday stepped up his campaign in favour of the stimulus plan, using a visit to the energy department to warn against any delay in approving it. “Inaction is not an option that is acceptable to me and it’s certainly not acceptable to the American people – not on energy, not on the economy, not at this critical moment,” he said.
“We can’t keep on having the same old arguments over and over again that lead us to the exact same spot – where we are wasting previous energy, we’re not creating jobs, we’re failing to compete in the global economy and we end up bickering at a time when the economy urgently needs action.”
Earlier yesterday, Mr Obama signalled a shift in church-state relations as he announced the formation of an Office of Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships.
Unlike its predecessor under the Bush administration, the new office will include a legal review of contentious issues of church and state separation and a panel of advisers that includes secular as well as religious leaders.
The Bush administration allowed faith-based groups to discriminate on religious grounds in hiring staff for federally funded projects but hiring issues will now be determined on a case-by-case basis. “The goal of this office will not be to favour one religious group over another – or even religious groups over secular groups,” Mr Obama told the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington yesterday. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organisations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state.
“This work is important, because whether it’s a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what’s happening on our streets and in our neighbourhoods than these organisations.”
The president recalled how his work as a community organiser for church groups in Chicago had introduced him to religious faith after growing up in a home without religion.
“I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the south side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbours who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to.”