THE INFLUENCE GAME, give us our PORK,  Lawmakers in stimulus dilemma
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_go_co/stimulus_pressures_3
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer Julie Hirschfeld

Davis, Associated Press Writer – Tue Feb 10, 11:48 pm ET
Featured Topics:
SERVING THE PUBLIC, OR THE PUBE?
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., talks about the Senate's work to pass the

economic AP – Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., talks about the Senate's work to

pass the economic stimulus bill as Sen. Joe …
WASHINGTON – Vote for the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus bill and

you might buy yourself a nasty re-election contest against a conservative

opponent next year.

Say no and risk the wrath of powerful interest groups across the political

spectrum that help voters decide who to support, from the business lobby

to big labor.

What's a member of Congress to do?

Political activists and lobbying groups are applying competing pressures on

lawmakers as Congress prepares for final votes on President Barack

Obama's massive recovery bill. They are leaning particularly hard on

Republicans who have backed the measure — or might be toying with the

idea of doing so.

"If they support the stimulus package, we will make sure every voter in

their state knows how they tried to further bankrupt voters in an already

bad economy," said Scott Wheeler, the executive director of the National

Republican Trust PAC.

His group promised to spend millions over the next two years to back GOP

primary challenges to any House or Senate Republican who supports the

legislation. That includes the three Republicans who voted "yes" when the

package passed the Senate on Tuesday, including one, Sen. Arlen Specter of

Pennsylvania, who faces re-election in 2010.

The other GOP supporters, Maine Sens. Susan M. Collins and Olympia J.

Snowe, don't face voters again until 2012 and 2014.

"We just want to send a message that we're going to have a long

institutional memory, and we're going to remind your constituents of what

you did," Wheeler said.

That's a similar vow to the one the House Democrats' campaign arm made

earlier this week. It targeted seven newly elected Republicans with robo-

calls tattling to constituents about their congressman's "no" votes on the

measure. The automated messages noted how many jobs the bill could

create for each state.

Republicans have been remarkably united against the measure — not a single

one in the House backed an $819 billion version last week, while just three

in the Senate voted for the $838 billion bill that passed Tuesday. But an

array of outside groups are leaning on them to change their minds.

The labor-backed coalition Americans United for Change announced Tuesday

night it would single out 21 Republican lawmakers with a national TV and

radio ad campaign urging them to switch their "no" votes to "yes." Those

targeted include 18 House members in moderate districts and three

senators regarded as possible backers, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of

Alaska, who is to face voters in 2010.

Business groups, traditionally the GOP's strongest supporters, also are

pressuring them to break ranks.

The National Association of Manufacturers wrote senators threatening to

designate votes on the stimulus bill as "key votes" — used to score members

of Congress each year on their records. Lawmakers who vote with the

association more than 70 percent of the time win an award from the group.

"It can count a lot in elections," said Laura Narvaiz, an NAM spokeswoman.

Trolling for converts to the measure this week, Collins circulated a letter

from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, another big business lobbying group,

urging support for a key modification that shrank the overall price tag by

about $100 billion. She said she was putting a copy of the missive on all

her colleagues' desks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday circulated praise for the

bill from an array of business groups.

Still, budget watchdog groups like the Council of Citizens Against

Government Waste have been just as vocal in their lobbying efforts against

the measure. They urged supporters to contact Congress and urge

representatives to vote "no," generating more than 70,000 such e-mails to

lawmakers.

"There will be a second wave of e-mails and expressions of outrage,"

promised Tom Schatz, the group's president, particularly if the price tag

grows during final negotiations between the House and Senate. "Taxpayers

are angry."

Lawmakers pay attention to these outside groups, which often spend freely

to shape voters' perceptions of members of Congress. Some groups have

control over large amounts of campaign cash, either through political action

committees or simply by telling their members which members of Congress

are "friendly" to their interests — and which aren't.

"I don't make my decisions on who key-votes what and I don't expect that

many of my colleagues do either," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. But he

said political groups that are threatening Republicans who back the stimulus

measure "certainly don't make it easier" to strike a bipartisan deal.

"It's unfortunate and it's had an effect," Nelson said.

Beyond pressuring lawmakers to vote yes or no, a wide array of lobbying

groups are leaning on lawmakers to add their pet items to the final package,

which will be the product of an intense round of behind-the-scenes

negotiations.

For the Chamber, it's a tax break for businesses that buy their own debt

at a discount.

Education groups are clamoring for the restoration of school construction

funds included in the House bill but slashed in the Senate at the behest of

GOP moderates. It's a position also supported by the lobbyist-in-chief,

President Barack Obama, as part of a two-day sales blitz that's taken him

to Indiana and Florida, and before a prime-time audience in a televised

news conference. AKA, UNIONS, NUMBER TWO DONOR TO DEMOCRATS
UNIONS ALSO THE NUMBER ONE WAY COMMUNISM HAS SPREAD

AROUND THE WORLD....
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    * Senate Approves Stimulus Plan New York Times – Tue Feb 10, 9:57

am EDT
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., talks with

reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009, following

the Senate's passage of the stimulus bill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
$3 trillion! — Senate, Fed, Treasury attack crisis
2 hrs 45 mins ago

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SOMEONE GET A LIST OF THESE PAC'S AND BOYCOTT, GIVE ALL OF

EM ****
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