As far as I know the only stimulus money that made it to Grays Harbor was that bus transfer station that we didn't need.

According to this site, Grays Harbor is in line for a total of $67,954,423 in recovery funds.

I couldn't get to the site. I do not believe the 68K includes money going to local schools. I'm not sure about other services, but I'm willing to bet the farm that schools are getting a whole lot more than that amount.

...And, as if on cue, Exhibit A of why I soooo want Obama to get it right. Because apparently, when it suits them, Republicans think there are plenty of jobs just sitting empty.

Republicans are infuriated by the move and claim it's an abuse of what's called "normal order" in moving legislation through. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, for instance, has warned that a health care bill passed through reconciliation "would be the loss of the Senate as a real viable institution."

But Democrats counter that in the past Republicans have regularly used the tactic to pass legislation they prefer. PolitiFact notes that since 1981 reconciliation has been used 22 times: 8 times by Democrats and 14 by Republicans. Republican uses included the 1996 Welfare Reform bill and a 2007 expansion of student loans. And both parties have used the process to win incremental expansions of social benefits, from enhanced Medicare benefits to COBRA health plans extending health insurance coverage to the unemployed. Republicans respond to this by arguing that none of the past uses were as consequential in terms of impact on the economy and Americans' lives.

So if reconciliation is such a powerful tool, why didn't the Democrats use it earlier? Because of another restriction, known as the Byrd rule — named for West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, who introduced it in 1974. The Byrd rule allows the minority party to block the use of reconciliation if a bill isn't tied strongly enough to the budget process. The full health care bill the Senate passed in December would have violated the rule (and possibly jeopardized support from many centrist Democrats hoping to avoid controversy).

But, because Democrats passed a full health reform bill in December with 60 votes and are only proposing to make changes to that through reconciliation, it's easier for them to argue that those changes are simply about making the bill fit the overall budget.

That doesn't, however, mean the political fight will be any less bitter. Last September, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed that the Democrats could expect a "severe reaction" if they resorted to reconciliation. "Budget reconciliation has never been used to structure one-sixth of the American economy," he said at the time.

But for Reid to announce the plan to use reconciliation means he's confident that wavering Senate Democrats will support him. And he must not be too fearful of a severe reaction, because he's up for reelection in his home state of Nevada this November.