Snow pre-empts jobs legislation
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance Committee unveiled an $85 billion proposed jobs bill today that includes a tax holiday on Social Security payroll taxes for employers that hire people who have been unemployed for at least 60 days.
The package, which largely mirrors the legislation that has been publicly discussed for more than a week, includes an extension of long-term unemployment benefits, the subsidy for COBRA health coverage, new money for Buy America bonds and a deduction for small business equipment purchases.
The difference from a week ago: Republicans such as Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley are officially on board with the Senate’s Democratic majority.
With unemployment at 9.7 percent nationally, lawmakers say job creation is their No. 1 priority.
”We have a bipartisan bill that will create jobs, according to the (Congressional Budget Office), immediately,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. ”Not when the design’s done, not when the planning’s done, not when they hire people, but immediately.”
That’s encouraging news from our nation’s capital.
But here’s the bad news. Despite the bipartisan agreement, Reid said the Senate won’t take up the legislation until the week of Feb. 22.
The reason: Washingtonians are still digging out from the second of two recent snowstorms. And the Senate is on recess next week in observance of George Washington’s birthday.
At a news conference this afternoon, Reid explained that many Senate staffers were not able to get to work. There are places that the subway’s not running and many, many places the buses aren’t running,” he said. “And we have massive numbers of staff who get here with public transportation and they couldn’t get here.
One reporter asked why Congress can’t change its plans to take off next week.
“People have schedules,” Reid answered. “You know, when people leave Washington who are members of Congress, it’s not that they head for the beach and sip tea and smoke cigars. People have work to do. We represent constituencies.”
| 
Email This
Advertisements
This would not be happening if Congress had planned this better. Did they really think a two month extension on UI last December was going to cut it? Where are these jobs they were forseeing in two months time? Now the deadlines won’t be met and some people will be totally out of options.
I have said this before but they need to provide the public with an answer NOW! YES or NO! I really don’t care anymore! If you aren’t going to pass the extension, LET ME KNOW, so I can go abroad for work if I have to.