It looks like all that campaigning this week didn’t help Obama in the US Senate last night.
Two Senate Democrats joined Senate Republicans yesterday to block Barack Obama’s latest mini-stimulus. Democrats Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) along with Independent Joe Lieberman joined Republicans in rejecting Barack Obama’s latest spending plan.
The Hill reported:
For the second time in two weeks, Senate Republicans voted in unison to block “jobs” legislation, which the Obama administration and Senate Democratic leaders have made central to their agenda.
The majority of Democrats then blocked a second “jobs” measure offered by Republicans.
The first measure, a piece of President Obama’s larger jobs package, failed in a 50-50 vote after two Democrats and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) joined Senate Republicans in voting against moving to the measure.
Democrats Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) also sided with Republicans.
Nelson and Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) were the two Democrats to vote against the president’s full “jobs” package last week. Tester voted yes on Thursday’s measure.
Lieberman (Conn.), who caucuses with Democrats, cited concerns about the legislation’s cost effectiveness in voting against the measure.
As with last week’s vote, Democrats failed to woo a single Republican vote. The staunchly unified GOP opposition calls into question whether the Democratic strategy has been able to exert the intended pressure on centrist Republicans.
“For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again,” Obama said in a statement released after the vote. “That’s unacceptable.”
