Dems 'Balking at Obama's Jobs Bill' - House: Addresses NRLB Abuse

Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept 15, 2011:
The House has passed HR 2587 (238- 186), the "Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act." Eight Democrats voted yes with the House Republicans. Seven House Republicans voted no along with the majority of House Democrats and went on record siding with the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) abusive and unprecedented interference on behest of the Unions to prevent Boeing, a private company, from opening a new plant in a right to work state. Another example of abuse through regulations and regulatory decisions by the Obama administration which impact private businesses, the economy, and jobs. The Act was introduced by Congressman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in response to the NLRB’s gross overreach attempting to move a Boeing production facility in South Carolina.

[Paragraph update added at 3:00pm] “The NLRB’s interference and overreach extends way beyond South Carolina and into every state. Our country and Arkansas needs to create more good, private sector jobs in order to get back on the path to prosperity, said Teresa Crossland-Oelke, AFP Arkansas State Director. “I applaud the bi-partisan support of our entire federal delegation Congressman Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin, Steve Womack and Mike Ross for standing up to the NLRB to protect vital jobs and get America back to work.”

The Senate resumed consideration of H.J. Res. 66, the Burma sanctions bill, which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wants to use as a vehicle for FEMA funding.

At 4 PM, the Senate will vote on three amendments to the bill: One from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), which would offset the FEMA funding by cutting duplicative government programs, one from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), which would offset the FEMA funding by cutting foreign aid, and finally Reid’s substitute amendment, which includes FEMA funding and the Burma sanctions language. All 3 amendments would require 60 votes for adoption. Under a unanimous consent agreement, if the Reid amendment is agreed to H.J. Res. 66 will be passed.

Reid is also seeking an agreement to take up yesterday's House-passed extension of the FAA authorization and highway bill, H.R. 2887.

The New York Times writes today, “President Obama anticipated Republican resistance to his jobs program, but he is now meeting increasing pushback from his own party. Many Congressional Democrats, smarting from the fallout over the 2009 stimulus bill, say there is little chance they will be able to support the bill as a single entity, citing an array of elements they cannot abide. ‘I think the American people are very skeptical of big pieces of legislation,’ Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said in an interview Wednesday, joining a growing chorus of Democrats who prefer an à la carte version of the bill despite White House resistance to that approach. ‘For that reason alone I think we should break it up.’”

The NYT also points out, “Republicans have focused their attack on the tax increases that would help pay for the spending components of the bill. But Democrats, as is their wont, are divided over their objections, which stem from Mr. Obama’s sinking popularity in polls, parochial concerns and the party’s chronic inability to unite around a legislative initiative, even in the face of Republican opposition. Some are unhappy about the specific types of companies, particularly the oil industry, that would lose tax benefits. . . . A small but vocal group dislikes the payroll tax cuts for employees and small businesses. . . . There are also Democrats, some of them senators up for election in 2012, who oppose the bill simply for its mental connection to the stimulus bill, which laid at least part of the foundation for the Republican takeover of the House in 2010.”

And it’s not just The Times noticing Democrats’ distaste for the president’s latest stimulus bill. Speaking to NBC’s Chuck Todd on MSNBC this morning, Joe Scarborough observed, “Their problem is though of course, Chuck, this morning, the Democrats are the ones that are in open revolt . . . .” Todd replied, “That’s right. It’s the Democrats.” Politico writes today, “It’s open season on President Barack Obama — and that’s just from members of his own party.” Yesterday, Roll Call noted, “President Barack Obama’s plans to pay for his jobs legislation are facing a cool reception from some House Democrats . . . .” And Politico reported, “President Barack Obama’s new jobs plan is hitting some unexpected turbulence in the halls of Congress: lawmakers from his own party.”

Senate Democrats have called the new stimulus proposal “terrible,” declared the tax increases paying for it are “not going to fly,” referring to them as “frustrating” with “an unfairness to it.” Others have questioned whether it’s even worth trying to pass the whole thing together. And Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) declared, “I have serious questions about the level of spending that President Obama has proposed, as well as the actual effectiveness some of these policies will have when it comes to creating jobs.”

And though “[i]n five speeches over a week, President Obama has said ‘pass this bill’ or some variant of it 90 times,” according to Politico, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) doesn’t seem to share the president’s urgency. National Journal reports, “President Obama’s calls for quick action on his plan to boost employment are aimed at pressuring Republicans, but he faces a more immediate hurdle in Senate Democrats’ plodding pace. The floor schedule outlined by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., means that Obama’s plan may await action until late October or later. . . . The president’s latest demand for congressional speed came a day after Reid indicated he plans to take up a lengthy list of measures that look likely to delay a vote on Obama’s proposal for at least a month.”

As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out on the Senate floor this morning, “[T]his bill’s top selling point, according to the President, was that both parties should like it. Yet, so far, the only thing both parties in Congress seem to agree on is that there’s got to be a better way. Earlier this week, after several of us suggested that the President would have a hard time convincing members of his own party to support this plan, a number of them proved us right. While the President was out in Ohio insisting over and over again that Congress pass the bill, it seemed like the only Democrats who were even willing to talk about it here on Capitol Hill were tearing it apart.”

The real problem, though, Leader McConnell explained, is that President Obama’s stimulus policies just haven’t worked. “I mean, we’re in the middle of a crisis. . . . And the President’s solution is to demand another Washington stimulus bill, because the first one worked out so well. . . .

“The first stimulus is a national punch line. Turtle tunnels, sidewalks to nowhere. And now we’re hearing reports that the White House fast-tracked a half billion dollar loan to a politically-connected energy firm that their own analysts said wasn’t ready for primetime. And they want another stimulus?

“Look: even if you didn’t know about any of the waste or the alleged cronyism, here’s the bottom line: two and a half years after the President signed the first stimulus, there are 1.7 million fewer jobs in this country, 1.7 million fewer jobs after borrowing and spending $825 billion to create them. What more do you need to know than that? We’ve gone down that road. Shouldn’t we try something different?”

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