This afternoon, the Senate will finally have the opportunity to vote on one of the many jobs bills that have passed the House of Representatives on a bipartisan basis but have so far gone nowhere in the Democrat-run Senate.
The bill would repeal a requirement that federal, state, and local governments withhold 3% of any payment to a contractor they do business with for taxes. Instead of investing in their business and hiring workers, these contractors have to send their money to the government, even if they wind up not owing that much in taxes.
Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, explained the reasons for repealing this mandate in the Weekly Republican Address. “[A]ll the mandate will do is, is take more money out of our economy at a time when quite frankly we can least afford it. And as a result, businesses will have less money to hire and pay new workers. The costs of enforcing this unfunded mandate will actually be higher than the revenue it raises by almost eight to one; now only in Washington does this make sense; listen, it’s a job killer.”
This bill received 405 votes in the House, among those 170 Democrats. The Senate version is co-sponsored by a number of Democrats, as well. Further, the White House has signaled its support for this bill, as it was one of the few bipartisan proposals included in President Obama’s recommendation to Congress in September.
This legislation stands in stark contrast to the series of partisan bills Democrats have pushed in the last two months, clearly designed to fail and make a political point. They were stuffed with more temporary stimulus spending that has failed to live up to any of the promises of Democrats about turning the economy around or “saving or creating” jobs. Further, they all included permanent tax hikes in the middle of a recession. They attracted bipartisan opposition and failed.
So what will Democrats do? As Sen. Brown put it, “[T]he decision pretty much rests with Majority Leader Harry Reid. Are we going to do something for the American people, or are we going to let politics win out again? . . . This jobs bill comes at the right time, for the right reasons, and it deserves a prompt vote on the Senate floor, without any gimmicks that will delay or jeopardize passage, so the President can sign it into law right away.”
For instance, Oliver Hamilton, our current East St. Louis Township Supervisor lives with 32 other people at his registered address in Precinct 2. He is also the precinct committeeman and 13 of these 33 registered voters (29 men & 4 women) actually voted in the general election. Are we supposed to believe that 13 adults are really living in the same house? Or, that Mr. Hamilton actually lives there too?
These 546 suspect households represent 3,972 voters if they all voted at one time. This would be more than enough to win most recent elections in East St. Louis. Are East St. Louis residents really determining our own elections? Read more
The Washington Post writes today, “The Senate shot down another piece of President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill Thursday, as a stalemated Congress goes through the motions of attempting legislation to spur economic growth largely as a mechanism to allow each party to blame the other for the failure to act. The chamber failed to advance a measure to spend $50 billion on highway, rail, transit and airport improvements and another $10 billion as seed money for an infrastructure bank designed to spark private investment in construction.”
Politico reported yesterday, “The widely anticipated defeat of the Democrats’ Rebuild America Jobs Act, which would have provided $60 billion for transportation infrastructure projects, marked the third blow to President Barack Obama’s jobs agenda. His sweeping $447 billion jobs package was blocked by all Republicans and two Democrats last month, while a smaller piece of that legislation — $35 billion to pay the salaries of teachers, cops and firefighters — suffered the same fate. Senate Democrats on Thursday came up nine votes short of the 60 needed to advance their infrastructure bill past a key procedural hurdle. The vote was 51-49, with all Republicans and two members of the Democratic caucus — Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) — voting no.”
Democrats’ latest stimulus bill was more of the same government spending that has failed to improve the economy paired with a job-killing tax hike. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained earlier this week, “There is no denying the fact that the policies of the past two and a half years have made a bad situation worse. For two and a half years, Democrats dominated this town. They got everything they wanted. And what happened? Unemployment has hovered above eight percent for 32 months. The so-called misery index is the worst it’s been in more than 25 years. Consumer confidence is at levels last seen during the height of the financial crisis. But if there’s one number that really stands out, it’s this: 1.5 million. That’s the number of fewer jobs we now have in this country since the day that President Obama signed his signature ‘jobs bill’ into law. . . . And what Republicans have been saying is that if we truly want to help improve the situation we’re in, if we really want to turn this ship around, then we need to learn from our mistakes and take a different approach. We know what policies haven’t worked. What sense does it make to try those same policies again? None.”
Those facts were only reinforced by today’s jobs report. CNBC writes, “The U.S. jobs market remained stuck in neutral during October, with the economy creating just 80,000 new jobs as the stubbornly high unemployment rate nudged lower. Amid few expectations that the employment picture has improved, government numbers Friday confirmed the obvious: The unemployment rate is stuck at 9.0 percent where it likely will be for many months to come. . . . The so-called real unemployment rate, which counts discouraged and underemployed workers, dropped to 16.2 percent from 16.5 percent. That’s the same rate as in August. They were tepid gains, though, for a jobs market that remains a far cry from indicating growth.”
Next week, though, the Senate will have an opportunity to try something different. Instead of advancing the same stimulus spending bills designed for political messaging that attract bipartisan opposition, on Monday, the Senate will vote on a bill to help job creators that has bipartisan support. The bill, which would eliminate a burdensome requirement that government contractors have 3% of their payments withheld for taxes, passed the House with over 400 votes, and has support from President Obama. The bill is being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA).
So next week, Senate Democrats will have the opportunity to take ‘yes’ for an answer, and support a bipartisan jobs bill. Will Democrats vote for it or decide again that politics is more important.
Who do you think would have more credibility at creating jobs? A former community organizer who has never had a private sector job in his life and who spent four years in the Illinois state senate and two years in the US Senate, or, a businessman who heads a firm with 30,000 employees in 3,000 locations in 43 states and 13 countries?
Hat tip:showmeinstitute
In part 1 of the interview, Reboot Congress.com’s Darin Morley, talks with syndicated columnist, author and speaker Star Parker about Martin Baker’s candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives and the politics of race. Morley asked Parker about the racial epithets thrown at Baker during a recent Tea Party rally in St. Louis. He also asked Parker what Baker needs to do to press on with his candidacy.
NATIONAL IMPACT:“A new law that cuts banks out of the federal student loan business is costing 2,500 workers at Sallie Mae their jobs. The nation’s largest student lender has told 1,200 staffers in service centers in Killeen, Texas, and Panama City, Fla., they will lose their jobs by year-end. The remaining cuts will follow in 2011, resulting in nearly a third of the company’s total work force of 8,000 losing their jobs.” (“2,500 Sallie Mae Jobs Fall To New Student Loan Law,” AP, 4/22/10)
FLORIDA: “The Sallie Mae office in Lynn Haven, which once was a second home to 700 local workers, will close Friday, Sallie Mae officials confirmed Wednesday night. … Although the doors will shut Friday, the real end for the plant came July 1 when private lenders such as Sallie Mae were forbidden from originating federally guaranteed student loans, officials said. The change was tucked into the health care overhaul signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year.” (“Sallie Mae Office To Close Friday,” The News Herald [FL], 11/11/10)
TEXAS: “Aegis Ltd., a global business outsource company based in Irving, confirmed Thursday that it’s laying off 130 workers at its call center in Killeen… A call center employee said the workers affected by the layoff are those who service the Salle Mae client group.”(“Central Texas Call Center Announces Layoffs,” KWTX News, 1/13/11)
PENNSYLVANIA: “In July, about 100 employees at Sallie Mae in Hanover Township [PA] lost their jobs.” (“Kanjorski Urges Sallie Mae To Add Jobs,” The Citizens’ Voice [PA], 9/29/10)
TENNESSEE:“While The Feds Gamble, Knoxville Pays… On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed a bill, and that same day a Knoxville businessman announced that several of his employees would lose their jobs as a result. This can’t be a good thing. The legislation involves student loans. …The Knoxville companies absorbing the blow are lender Edamerica and loan-servicing company Edfinancial Services. Tony Hollin, chairman and CEO of both companies, says up to 10 of Edamerica’s 26 employees will eventually lose their jobs…” (Editorial, “While The Feds Gamble, Knoxville Pays,” The Knoxville News-Sentinel [TN], 4/2/10)
Politico reported last night, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared Monday that Democrats are the only ones ‘fighting to create good-paying American jobs.’ But he again could face a handful of defections from his own party when he brings the next jobs bill to the floor this week. Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat who’s facing a tough reelection next year, said he’ll take a look at the latest jobs proposal — a $60 billion package to help rebuild aging infrastructure — but continues to have concerns about the fact that these bills have been funded by raising taxes on the rich. ‘I have some of the same concerns about the way it’s paid for,’ Nelson told POLITICO on Monday night. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a retiring Connecticut independent who caucuses with Democrats, has argued the government can’t keep spending more money at a time Congress is wrestling with the deficit. And he said he had no desire to complicate the task of the congressional supercommittee, which is charged with producing a plan by Thanksgiving to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the deficit. ‘I have the same concerns as I have before,’ Lieberman told POLITICO on Monday night. ‘These are programs that I normally support, but I think the main event now is the supercommittee and I don’t want to make their job any more difficult.’ . . . It’s unclear if [Sen. Jon] Tester [D-MT] or [Sen. Mark] Pryor [D-AR] will vote for cloture on the infrastructure bill, the next piece of Obama’s jobs plan. . . . Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who is retiring in 2012, said he would vote to proceed to the bill, but wouldn’t vote for the bill itself because he objects to the pay-fors. ‘I’ve consistently said we should not raise taxes on ordinary earned income. I don’t believe that’s the way to pay for this,’ Webb told POLITICO.”
And last week, The Hill pointed out, “The bill includes $10 billion for a national infrastructure bank, even though Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said last year she would ‘never’ support such a proposal. . . . Boxer is one of two Democrats who in the past have criticized the policy components of the bill, the second installment of Obama’s jobs plan. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) opposed a similar infrastructure-heavy stimulus proposal last year when he was in the midst of one of the nation’s toughest Senate races. Bennet says he won’t block bringing the bill to the floor, but he’s not making any commitment to support its passage. . . . Bennet will also have to reconcile his past opposition to a central component of the jobs package. Last year, during his reelection campaign, Bennet pledged to oppose a $50 billion infrastructure package Obama recommended to spur economic growth. ‘I will not support additional spending in a second stimulus package,’ Bennet said at the time, according to the Denver Post.”
So even before Reid moves to take up another political stimulus bill that raises taxes, he’s already facing bipartisan opposition. At least 3 Democrats object to the tax hikes included in this latest stimulus, and at least two have issues with the underlying policy measures.
“People Have Received A Lot Of Misinformation About The Health Care Reform Law, But The Truth Is That The Law Will Do A Lot Of Good . . . .” “‘When it comes to their health care, Missourians want peace of mind. With these new measures, people will no longer have to worry that they could be dropped from their coverage when they need it most, and now insurance companies can’t tell you what doctor you can see.’ McCaskill said. ‘People have received a lot of misinformation about the health care reform law, but the truth is that the law will do a lot of good through protections like these.'” (Senator Claire McCaskill, “New Patient Protections Mark Anniversary Of Healthcare Reform,” Press Release, 9/23/10)
“Governor Romney recognized that competition is the key to the success of any market – so doing what no one had ever done before, he created a new market where consumers can go to pick the health care plan that suits them best. Called the “Connector,” this marketplace is not a new regulatory agency or insurance purchasing pool. It is a place that gives people access to more choices, better information, and lower costs in selecting a private health insurance plan. The Connector also provides a way for individuals to purchase insurance with the same pre-tax advantage given to those buying insurance through their employers. Even better, the Connector gives people the chance to buy private insurance independent of their jobs, so that they don’t have to worry about losing their coverage when they change employers.” (Former Senator Jim Talent,“Mitt Romney: Putting Conservative Principles to Work in Health Care,” Town Hall 8/21/07)
