The Cut List

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Feb 5 2009, 1:25 pm by Marc Ambinder

TMPDC has obtained the list of nearly $80 billion worth of cuts that Sens. Ben Nelson and Olympia Snowe and colleagues wish to see striken from the stimulus package. Here is a reported prediction: most of these cuts will be, in fact, cut. And the White House knows this. And the White House is privately encouraging this. The big, perhaps ultimate battle will be over education funding for states.

Comments (2)

Greg February 5, 2009 1:39 PM

Marc, could you for the sake of clarity re-write this post. Will the cuts be "cut" in the sense that the cuts themselves will be removed so that the funding will be the same OR will the cuts be "cut" i.e. the funding that they intend to cut will be cut?

Appalled Moderate February 5, 2009 2:50 PM

I am glad the White House is "encouraging" efforts to bring out a more reasonable stimulus bill. I am completely puzzled why they outsourced the production of the original bill to Pelosi and company, and then wasted political capital urging House Republicans to support that approach.

Any insight to what the WH had in mind with their strategy? Particularly since, reading between the lines, they didn't seem to get the kind of stimulus bill they were really wanting.

Also, do your sources tell you what was up with Obama's Washington Post op ed? It reads like a campaign speech for the Pelosi approach -- which, again, seems utterly contradictory to the quiet encouragement of Blue Dogs and Moderates.