Voinovich steps across aisle to support small-business bill

Given that virtually everyone in Washington can be heard saying that small business is the backbone of American it shouldn’t be amazing that the Senate passed a bill designed to open up credit to small businesses and provide incentives to expand and hire new workers. And yet, it was an extraordinary event, made possible only because two Republicans were willing to buck their party and do what’s right.

One of those was Ohio’s George V. Voinovich, who said he acted after receiving many calls of support for the measure “from Ohio’s small and medium manufacturers, most of whom are still struggling to recover from this recession.”

Only one other Republican, George LeMieux of Florida, joined the 61-38 vote to break a filibuster of the bill. So, do small business owners in other states not bother to call their Republican senators, or are their states all magically immune from the effects of this recession? Or are they just willing to put partisan politics above helping their constituents and giving the anemic economy a shot in the arm?

This was not one of those bills that the opposition could argue was being financed on the backs of our children and grandchildren. It will be paid for with changes in tax law designed to encourage taxpayers to invest in Roth IRAs.

Treading water

Explaining his vote against the bill, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said: “There are many good things in this bill, but I believe it could have been better.” That’s like telling a drowning man: “I could throw you this rope, but I think a life preserver would be better.”

Even in joining Democrats to move the bill through the Senate, Voinovich didn’t let the them off the hook. He noted that Democrats denied Republicans the opportunity to amend the bill for many weeks, and turned their attention away from the bill to work on getting passage of an extension of unemployment benefits.

But in the end, Voinovich saw that Ohio has an interest in the bill that outweighs the value of political posturing on either side of the aisle.

We have not always agreed with Voinovich — though we’ve agreed with him more often than not — and this vote shows that his presence in Washington will be missed.

Voinovich has always had the ability to lock onto some issues and hold them as if in a steel trap. Only rarely could he be persuaded to change his position on what he considered bedrock issues. He once yielded to White House pressure to support Medicare prescription drug coverage, which he believed was too expensive. He voted for it, but only, it turned out, after he (and others) had been lied to about the full cost.

Voinovich is retiring and has only three more months in the Senate, and the body won’t be in session much of the time, but there will still be occasions for him to show signs of his independence. Ohioans should be watching for them.