usmc4669
04-11-04, 02:50 PM
Apr 10, 4:56 PM (ET)
By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON (AP) - To unionized machinists, autoworkers and airline pilots, an $80 billion pension relief bill making its way through Congress offered badly needed help. To construction unions and the Teamsters, it was a loser. To the quiet satisfaction of Republicans, that left unhappy Senate Democrats in the middle, forced to make a politically painful choice between reliable election-year allies on one side and those on the other. On the strength of a 78-19 vote in the Senate, the bill went to President Bush on April 8. On Saturday, he signed the measure sought by businesses to sharply reduce the amount of money they must put into employee retirement funds through 2005.
"It is unfair, it is wrong and it is discriminatory," said Sen. Edward M.Kennedy, D-Mass. He attacked the Bush administration for refusing to provide the same relief to all pension plans battered by stock market losses earlier in the decade.
Sen. John Kerry, the party's presidential nominee-in-waiting, opposed the bill. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and other members of leadership voted against it.
They formed a minority of a minority, though. Party sources say Daschle and Kennedy came up empty when they went looking for the 41 votes needed to block passage until the administration agreed to changes.
"I am reluctant to vote against the men and women who build our homes and move our goods, but I am not left much choice," Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said before the bill's passage Thursday.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., voiced regrets, too, yet voted for a bill he said was "vital for United Airlines, based in my home state," and help manufacturers Caterpillar, Goodyear and John Deere as well.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she received more than 280 calls from pilots "telling me that if this bill does not pass, United Airlines may have to terminate their pension plan." She was one of 33 Democrats to vote for the bill; 12 voted against.
The measure was passed by the House on a bipartisan vote of 336-69.
Did you see three of the A**holes who voted against this bill? Sen Edward M. Kennedy, SDL Tom Daschle and our famous Sen. John F. Kerry. The three sleeping cats.
By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON (AP) - To unionized machinists, autoworkers and airline pilots, an $80 billion pension relief bill making its way through Congress offered badly needed help. To construction unions and the Teamsters, it was a loser. To the quiet satisfaction of Republicans, that left unhappy Senate Democrats in the middle, forced to make a politically painful choice between reliable election-year allies on one side and those on the other. On the strength of a 78-19 vote in the Senate, the bill went to President Bush on April 8. On Saturday, he signed the measure sought by businesses to sharply reduce the amount of money they must put into employee retirement funds through 2005.
"It is unfair, it is wrong and it is discriminatory," said Sen. Edward M.Kennedy, D-Mass. He attacked the Bush administration for refusing to provide the same relief to all pension plans battered by stock market losses earlier in the decade.
Sen. John Kerry, the party's presidential nominee-in-waiting, opposed the bill. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and other members of leadership voted against it.
They formed a minority of a minority, though. Party sources say Daschle and Kennedy came up empty when they went looking for the 41 votes needed to block passage until the administration agreed to changes.
"I am reluctant to vote against the men and women who build our homes and move our goods, but I am not left much choice," Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said before the bill's passage Thursday.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., voiced regrets, too, yet voted for a bill he said was "vital for United Airlines, based in my home state," and help manufacturers Caterpillar, Goodyear and John Deere as well.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she received more than 280 calls from pilots "telling me that if this bill does not pass, United Airlines may have to terminate their pension plan." She was one of 33 Democrats to vote for the bill; 12 voted against.
The measure was passed by the House on a bipartisan vote of 336-69.
Did you see three of the A**holes who voted against this bill? Sen Edward M. Kennedy, SDL Tom Daschle and our famous Sen. John F. Kerry. The three sleeping cats.