So what has the Senate done on this day January 27, 2009? Another confirmation of someone from the Obama campaign (payoff) who worked not only for Senator Ted Kennedy but also the Clinton Administration. So let’s do this for an Obama campaign staffer from the economic working group. The nomination confirmed by the Senate accomplished the following:
Daniel K. Tarullo, of Massachusetts, to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a term of fourteen years from February 1, 2008
All but one Senator voted for this confirmation. Okay, two others did not vote but 96 voted ‘yes’. So to take some comfort that there was at least one senator willing to buck the trend said senator was evaluated. Here is an excerpt from the Republican Senator from Kentucky’s reasons for not voting for Geithner:
This is all the more unfortunate because America needs a strong and credible Treasury Secretary now more than ever. The most recent Secretary treated Congress with borderline contempt and hostility. He was not forthcoming with information or explanations, only marching orders. I do believe Mr. Geithner understands the important role Congress has to play in our economic policies, and until his evasive and unsatisfactory answers about his tax problems, I thought he would at least do a better job than Secretary Paulson at working with Congress. If Mr. Geithner is indeed confirmed, I hope he will follow through on his promises to be responsive and respectful to Congress.
Mr. President, for all the reasons I have discussed, I cannot in good conscience support this nomination. I yield the floor.
And the following excerpts are what he had to say recently on the bailout or stimulus package:
This crisis is too important to get wrong. None of the authors are economists, but they are pretending to do the work of these experts. What we need to do is to listen to the experts, come back and work together on a bipartisan basis to create a plan that will truly address the crisis unfolding before us. That is how Congress works best.
Sounds pretty good so far, but then,
Despite the advertised claims, this bill also is not a serious attempt to address our energy needs. More than 50% of our electricity is supplied by coal, but this bill does not do enough to advance technologies that will make coal burning cleaner and safer.
Carbon sequestration technology is vitally important to the future of coal. I am glad to see that the Chairman’s mark included language that would expand the research and development credit for carbon sequestration but this takes us only a short way towards our goal.
The future of coal must be clean coal. Through the adoption of new technologies we can reduce emissions and clean up the coal power process.
We can find a way to use coal to solve our nation’s energy problems while fulfilling our obligations to the environment. I realize that some of my colleagues would like to take coal out of our energy equation, but they have no viable alternative.
Based on an earlier comment from this same statement the fine Senator from Kentucky explained that people in his state need jobs. Kentucky has employed thousands in the coal industry and a 2004 estimate indicates an economic impact to the state of $9 billion dollars. So let’s see. What could be Senator Bunning’s motivation for bringing up ‘energy’ and ‘coal’?
Just when you think there’s a hint of reason in Washington you slap yourself for having the idea. And the GOP expressed concern over their plight since going lefty on spending the last few years. Where is the evidence they are mending their ways from their fall from grace or at least reviving conservative principles?
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
Stimulus stupidity alert: $75 million for smoking cessation (Michelle Malkin)
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 8:52 am and is filed under Public Affairs, Money Matters, wordpress, Politics, disclosure, ethics, oversight, obama, Congress.
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