Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told The Washington Post this week: “This is getting to be Judgment Day on the spending issue. I’ve come to the conclusion that voters are saying now that just throwing money at various kinds of issues — virtually all of which are deserving — isn’t good enough.” Throwing money at issues isn’t good enough? Sen. Wyden is just now learning this? Too bad his fellow colleagues in the Senate haven’t. Politico reports:
In a roll of the dice, Democrats moved Thursday to take up a roughly $190 billion-plus jobs and tax package next week, hoping to complete passage before Memorial Day and forestall threatened cuts that would affect the elderly and the unemployed.
An unwieldy amalgam of state aid, infrastructure investments, tax cuts and extended jobless benefits, the massive bill is a sleeping giant in this political year and uniquely captures the hard choices facing a government beset by record deficits and an uncertain economy.