COVERITLIVE.COM

12:00

David Gura -

Welcome, everyone. It's good to have you with us. Our plan is to have a political chat every Tuesday, at high noon (ET). Each week, a reporter or editor from NPR's Washington desk -- White House and congressional correspondents, mostly -- will join Ken Rudin, NPR's political editor and Political Junkie, and me, for hour-long conversations.

12:00

David Gura -

We're eager to take your questions, so please send 'em in. We want to focus on the stimulus plan, and President Obama's relationship with the House and Senate, in particular, but we'll probably digress. Ken's here, after all! Now I'm digressing...

12:00

David Gura -

Andrea, I want to start with you. Over the past few days, there has been a lot of attention on the Hill. There was a cloture vote in the Senate yesterday, on the stimulus package, the $800 billion economic recovery package. How did it turn out?

12:02

Andrea Seabrook - Senate Democrats did indeed win the cloture vote -- that is, to cut off debate and (finally) get to a vote on the real deal -- BUT they only won it by 2 votes. They managed to get three Republicans to vote with them, and those three will be key to the negotiations on the final version of the bill.

12:02

David Gura - Questions are coming in fast and furious. Let's go to Robin...

12:02

[Comment From Robin]
What does Obama have to do to get the media to report on the stimulus package on its merits and not on the partisan wrangling (as fascinating as that is)?

12:02

David Gura - Ken, want to take that one?

12:03

Ken Rudin - I think the media have reported on the details of the package in more detail than you give them/us credit for. Part of the details rest in the different ways the House and Senate work. The House, even with a one-vote majority, can push through anything they want. The Senate, because it needs to get to 60 votes, needs to compromise more. Thus, there are more incentives in the Senate version for Republicans -- such as tax cuts. It is particularly important for us -- the media -- to talk about the differences between the two versions, and what compromises need to be made.

12:04

Andrea Seabrook - The answer to that, Robin, is that Obama has to go be president of Mars. In a bill like this one, the politics and the policy are not really separate beasts. One determines the other -- so covering both is necessary.

12:04

Ken Rudin -

Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter is insisting that the bill emerge from conference committee pretty much the way it was passed by the Senate. Let's see if some of the more ideological House Dems agree to that.

12:04

David Gura - I want to go back to that cloture vote real quick, if I could... They won by two votes, Andrea. That's not a huge margin.

12:05

David Gura - What messages does that send, going forward?

12:05

Andrea Seabrook - That bipartisanship was a nice little buzzword for the first week of the Obama presidency. But Republicans have decided -- at least for now -- that they have more to gain politically by NOT going along with the administration.

12:05

Ken Rudin - And Obama once said he would love it to pass the Senate with 80 votes. Right now, I think 60 plus whatever else he can get is fine with him. Bipartisanship is important, and Obama did make the right noises, but ultimately he wants a bill passed so he can sign it.

12:06

David Gura - Sarah has a question, along these lines...

12:06

[Comment From Sarah]
Do you think this current exchange is going to be typical of next four years, or might the whole bipartisanship thing work out?

12:07

David Gura - First we're going to hear from Andrea, then we'll go to Ken.

12:07

Andrea Seabrook - Yes, Specter is playing hardball. But he has to remember too that Democrats need 60 votes -- not 61. So they can afford to lose one of the 3 Republicans that voted for the bill. So there's that tiny bit of wiggle room there.

12:07

David Gura - Ken, what do you think of Sarah's question?

12:09

Ken Rudin -

Regarding Sarah's question ... until the Democrats get 60 votes outright, we may see this until the 2010 elections. And right now, the odds look good for the Dems -- with five Republicans (Gregg, Voinovich, Brownback, Martinez and Bond) not running. But, of course, if the economy doesn't pick up, it could be good news for the GOP ... if bad news for the country.

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