February 4, 2010

The Democrats’ Jobs “Plan”

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Scott Brown is set to be sworn in as the newest member of the United States Senate later today. That means Democrats will need at least one Republican to switch sides if they hope to beat a Republican filibuster of their jobs bill. An initial vote on the package is set for Monday. Brian Beutler has the latest on how the Dems’ plan to do that:

“You need two to tango. And you need Republicans for bipartisanship,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (I-IL). “Hope is prospective…we don’t have bipartisanship at this moment. I hope we’ll have it in a matter of minutes, hours, days.”

Hope may be prospective. But it’s not a plan.

Maybe the Dems really do have a GOPer on board, and they just don’t want to say yet. But more likely, they’re expecting the bill to fail and plan on blaming the Republicans for it. That might be good politics, but it doesn’t actually help anyone get a job.

Kevin is traveling today.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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