After failing yesterday to get the 60 votes they needed to bring debate on a historic financial reform bill to a close, Senate Democrats succeeded in this afternoon's cloture vote.
The final vote today was 60-40 (yesterday it was 57-42). Next up is a final vote on passage, which is expected to take place within days.
After today's vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said there are "a couple of amendments that are germane post-cloture, but they're the ones that we have to figure out a way to get resolved."
"We're going to try to work through this," Reid said, adding that there may be more votes this afternoon.
"Best of all worlds, we'd finish this thing and move onto other issues," Reid said. "We're gonna try to do that."
Sure, financial regulatory reform isn't perfect... But at least it looks like we'll have a chance to see votes on amendments to strengthen the bill tomorrow. Hope isn't all lost. Rather, we have a chance to finally see some kind of overhaul in our financial system to prevent any more "too big to fail" catastrophes like what we saw in 2008.
Oh, and did you hear about this?
Stimulus funds will have created or saved 5,600 construction jobs by the end of the year, according to a press release issued yesterday by the Nevada Department of Transportation.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the release says, has provided about $201 million in funding for road construction in Nevada, and 90 percent of the funds have already been contracted out to construction companies.
The release states that 32 ARRA-funded projects are currently underway in the state, and an additional six will begin by the end of May. After the rest of the projects begin over the course of summer and fall, a total of 69 road projects will have used stimulus funding.
Stimulus money has provided funding for numerous road preservation projects throughout the state, funding for landscape projects along the U.S. 95 in Las Vegas and the 395 in Carson City, and partial funding for a new interchange at the 395 and Meadowood Way in Reno. A full list of projects, last updated in January, can be found on the NDOT website.
The majority of the funds — $134 million – have been allocated for work on state highways. An additional $40 million was allocated to Clark County, where about 30 projects were funded by Federal stimulus money. $9 million was allocated to Washoe county, $11 million to rural areas and $6 million to numerous “enhancements.”
But wait, haven't the GOoPers been calling the Recovery Act "porkulus"? So that "pork" meant money for roads and some 5,600 much needed jobs? So Harry Reid was right in pushing to pass the Recovery Act?
The difference can't be any clearer. Whoever the GOoPers ultimately decide upon, he or she will be campaigning AGAINST the very measures that are now pulling us out of the worst recession since the 1930s and into economic recovery. Senator Reid actually worked to pass these very measures that are bringing about a turnaround.
Now why would Nevada want to settle for less? I don't think we do. :-)
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