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Senate Republicans Block Obama’s Jobs Bill
With their vote on a motion to proceed, the Senate avoids even a real debate on the jobs bill. The BBC:
Forty-six Republican senators joined with two Democrats to filibuster the $447bn (£287bn) bill.
Democratic support for the bill wavered this week, as several Democrats said they would vote for moving the bill forward, but against the bill itself.
Republicans opposed the measure over its spending to stimulate the economy and its tax rise on millionaires.
Joe Nocera today, in a column arguing that this time, it really is different on a paper from the New America Foundation entitled The Way Forward: Moving From the Post-Bubble, Post-Bust Economy to Renewed Growth and Competitiveness:
How can we break this cycle? Like most mainstream economists, Alpert, Hockett and Roubini roll their eyes at the calls for immediate government deficit reduction, which led to the creation of the supercommittee. Reducing government spending in the short term will only make things worse.
Instead, they believe that this is perhaps the best time in recent history for the government to take on a sustained infrastructure program, lasting from five to seven years, to create jobs and demand. “Labor costs will never be lower,” says Hockett. “Equipment costs will never be lower. The cost of capital will never be lower. Why wait?” Their plan calls for $1.2 trillion in spending — not all by the government, but all overseen by government — that would add 5.2 million jobs each year of the program. Alpert says that current ideas, like tax cuts, meant to stimulate the economy indirectly, just won’t work for a problem as big the one we are facing. Indeed, so far, they haven’t.
You don’t have to be all that cynical to believe Republicans will allow nothing of the sort to pass.
9 Responses to “Senate Republicans Block Obama’s Jobs Bill”
I’m sorry but by themselves the repubs couldn’t stop this bill. Dems refusing to vote for it are going to be what kills it. But go ahead and blame Repubs
Ben Nelson is not a democrat. Nor is he human.
Although they did vote to continue debate, several centrist Democrats have said they would vote against the Obama jobs bill itself. The bottom line is that Obama doesn’t have enough support in his own party to pass this bill in the Senate even with a simple majority. Right now Reid couldn’t even use the nuclear option to get this bill to pass.
“centrist Democrats have said they would vote against the Obama jobs bill itself.”
Then how the hell can they be called centrist? Thank goodness I don’t live in the US.
The non-passage will be used against R’s come campaign season. They would have been smarter to go along with it. All they’ve succeeded in doing is cementing their Party of NO creds. They are useless, utterly useless. At least the D’s are trying to help.
This is all just posturing by Obama. JSpencer you are right this will be used in the 2012 campaign, in fact that’s probably the main reason Obama continues to push this. It has no chance of getting through the House in anything resembling its current form, and there isn’t going to be a popular groundswell of support that will make them change their minds no matter how many speeches Obama makes.
It is very important for Obama that the GOP not be allowed to counter with “the Democratic-held Senate couldn’t pass it either” which I think is the main reason Reid took his dramatic action last week, and the reason Obama now appears ready to let the senate break down the bill into components. Obama has crafted a bill he knows won’t pass to use as political ammo next year.
DaGoat, you may be right, but it wouldn’t have mattered what the legislation was, the R’s would have been against it.
The GOP wouldn’t vote for a bill that declared the sky to be blue and water wet if Obama was going to score any political points off it. This bill wasn’t perfect but it was a good bill. The GOP did their thing tho, made sure their masters didn’t get a raise to their income taxes. Good job GOP!!! I hope you guys burn next November.
Gee, guys…the Dem led and controlled senate has failed to pass a budget the last two sessions. They totally ignored the Simpson-Bowles recommendations. Now the Prez throws a hastily constructed jobs bill on the table and expects everyone to wave it through.
I’m telling you, neither side wants to change things. Profits are running high in almost all sectors of business. The lobbyists are working overtime to keep rules, laws and regs just like they are.
They’re efforts are proving to be successful.
Pull your heads out.