When Republicans take a look around, why would they vote for the 647-page stimulus bill? The House GOP leadership is opposed. The Club for Growth and Freedom Works are scoring the vote. Several other groups have chimed in against it, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Tax Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform, the National Taxpayers’ Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, and the American Conservative Union. The Cato Institute has taken out a full page ad against it, signed by dozens of respected economists. The conservative campaign to “melt the phone lines” has had the phones busy at the congressional switchboard all day.

There are so few incentives to vote for this, and so many reasons to vote against it that go well beyond partisanship. Just imagine what happens next year when the government runs back-to-back trillion-dollar deficits for the first time in history. Would you want this vote on your record then?