PASS THE JOBS BILL CONGRESS!
| By: CNN’s Deirdre Walsh and Ted BarrettWashington (CNN) – Congressional Republicans Tuesday dismissed the President Obama’s proposal to offset the costs of his jobs bill through tax increases on higher income workers, but signaled they still want to work with the president to get at least some pieces of his economic plan through Congress.”When you look at what we saw in the president’s pay-fors yesterday, we see permanent tax increases put into effect in order to pay for temporary spending. I just don’t think that’s really going to help our economy the way it could,” House Speaker John Boehner said.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, “We’re happy to look at his recommendations that we heard the other night.” But he also said, “The pay-fors have been around the track before and there is bipartisan opposition to every one of them. I doubt that’s going to work.” Republicans repeated their message, which started immediately after Obama’s plan was released, that it’s time to focus on the areas in the president’s plan they support, such as tax credits for businesses, assistance for the unemployed, and measures boosting international trade. “My sense is we need to work very hard and try and peel off the things that we can actually agree on,” Cantor said at a jobs forum Tuesday. “Lets get some wins on board together and then we’ll just have to agree to disagree on some of the things that will have to be decided I think around the public debates surrounding the next election.”
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Obama Offers Jobs Bill, and the G.O.P. Balks
By HELENE COOPER and JENNIFER STEINHAUER
WASHINGTON—President Obama sent his jobs bill to Congress on Monday, urging lawmakers to put aside “political games” and pass the $447 billion plan meant to increase hiring as the government struggles to curtail persistent high unemployment.
But just two hours after Mr. Obama, flanked by firefighters, construction workers and teachers in the Rose Garden, waved a copy of the jobs plan and issued his call for bipartisanship, Republicans took aim at the White House plan to pay for the jobs initiative through tax increases on more affluent Americans, most of them tax increases previously rejected by lawmakers.
White House officials said they nonetheless believed the proposal could pass Congress. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said administration officials had seen “some conciliatory messaging from some members of Congress” since lawmakers returned from their summer recess after presumably getting an earful from voters fed up with the political brinkmanship that characterized the negotiations over the debt ceiling.
“We have some indication that the message of the American people is being heard by members of Congress,” Mr. Carney said.
Congressional Republicans were not, however, sounding that conciliatory; they promptly fired off e-mails to let their displeasure with the idea of tax increases be known. “Beware the Tax Man,” was the subject line in an e-mail from one House Republican staff member. Brendan Buck, spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, added his own quick reaction, criticizing the proposal as one that “doesn’t appear to have been offered in that bipartisan spirit.”
In a news briefing with reporters on Monday, Representative Eric Cantor, the Virginia Republican and House majority leader, took pains to say that he was open to the president’s legislative proposals. But he made clear that if they are paid for primarily through tax increases, Republicans would not be going along.
And this gem from Steve Benen
September 14, 2011 9:35 AM Exploiting accidental GOP candor
By Steve Benen
This week, Politico quoted a senior House Republican aide who confirmed what many have suspected about GOP motives for a long while. Commenting on why Republicans should reflexively oppose the American Jobs Act, the senior staffer said, “Obama is on the ropes; why do we appear ready to hand him a win?”
It was an unusually candid concession. The quote certainly made it sound as if Republicans aren’t concerned about what’s best for the country; their principal goal is undermining the president at a time of crisis.
The quote did not go unnoticed at the White House. Here’s President Obama yesterday, touting his jobs agenda outside an Ohio high school
For those who can’t watch clips online, Obama said:
“Already, yesterday there were some Republicans quoted in Washington saying that even if they agree with the proposals in the American Jobs Act, they shouldn’t pass it because it would give me a win.
“That’s the kind of games-playing we’ve gotten used to in Washington. Think about that. They supported this stuff in the past, but they’re thinking maybe they don’t do it this time because ‘Obama is promoting it.’ Give me a win? This isn’t about giving me a win. This isn’t about giving Democrats or Republicans a win. It’s about giving the American people a win. It’s about giving Ohio a win. It’s about your jobs and your lives and your futures, and giving our kids a win.
“Maybe there’s some people in Congress who’d rather settle our differences at the ballot box than work together right now. But I’ve got news for them: The next election is 14 months away. And the American people don’t have the luxury of waiting that long. You’ve got folks who are living week to week, paycheck to paycheck. They need action, and they need it now.”
Note that Obama also made use of the same quote at a Rose Garden event on Monday.
What’s more, the president seizing on this has also not gone unnoticed by Republicans. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) office sent an email to more than 60 top GOP aides urging them to “be very careful on our tone when it comes to jobs/ the president.”
Too late. SORUCE
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