Economic Growth Slows To A Crawl While Senate Dems Push Bill That Could Cost Up To 1 Million Jobs

... Gee thanks democrats - pull your heads out #$%@!

Today in Washington, D.C. - April 30, 2014
The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today. The Senate began consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 2223, Democrats’ minimum wage bill, which the CBO says could cost up to 1 million jobs.  Fortunately, Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to take up the bill, by a vote of 54-42.  Question now:  will Democrat Senate Majority Leader Reid use the nuclear option to pass this "jackboot" bill. A noted absence: Democrat Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas who has said he opposed the federal increase, did not vote, which has the same effect as a vote to sustain the republican vote. Pryor is fighting to retain his seat against Rep Tom Cotton in a state which has no love for the Obama administration and has grown weary of Sen. Pryor's voting 90% of the time in support of President Obama and Senate majority Leader Reid's agenda. However, Arkansas other Senator, John Boozman, would have voted with the Republican but he is recuperating from heart surgery.

At 4 PM, the Senate is scheduled to vote on confirmation of the six district judge nominees Democrats used the abusive nuclear option precedent they established to invoke cloture on in a series of votes yesterday.

The House reconvened at 10 AM and will consider H.R. 4486 — "Making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes."

Yesterday, the House passed the following bills:
H.R. 4167 (Voice Vote) — "To amend section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, known as the Volcker Rule, to exclude certain debt securities of collateralized loan obligations from the prohibition against acquiring or retaining an ownership interest in a hedge fund or private equity fund."
H.R. 4488 (Voice Vote) — "To make technical corrections to two bills enabling the presentation of congressional gold medals, and for other purposes."
H.R. 627 (403- 13) — "To provide for the issuance of coins to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service, and for other purposes."
H.R. 4414 (268 - 150) — "To clarify the treatment under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of health plans in which expatriates are the primary enrollees, and for other purposes." As a point of interest, 60 democrats joined 208 Republicans in passing this bill. While, 133 Democrats (many extreme liberals) joined 17 Republicans (many staunch conservatives) in voting against the bill. Thirteen did not vote, one of whom, Rep Tim Griffin, was known to be addressing the tragic effects of a tornado in his home district. Prayers and support are needed for the people of his district.

The Wall Street Journal reports today, “The U.S. economy nearly stalled in the first quarter as weakness overseas hurt exports and frigid weather curtailed business investment. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.1% in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That matched the second-weakest quarterly reading of the nearly five-year-old economic recovery. . . . ‘Not a great start to the year,’ said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Sterne Agee. . . . The latest numbers continue a familiar pattern. The nation's economic recovery, which started in mid-2009, has been marked as much for its choppiness as its slow pace. At several junctures, consecutive strong quarters have raised hopes for a breakout-only to be upended by a slowdown. The overall gains have been too weak to push the unemployment rate back in line with historical norms. The unemployment rate in March stood at a still-elevated 6.7%.”

And so of course Senate Democrats’ answer was to push a bill that could have cost up to 1 million Americans jobs today. As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said “[T]oday feels like déjà vu all over again. Because even though our constituents keep telling us that they expect Washington to focus on jobs, that’s clearly not what they’re getting from the Senate. Instead, Senate Democrats are pushing legislation today that could cost as many as a million jobs in this country — legislation that the Left flank of their party demands. That’s their response to the pleas of our constituents to do something about jobs — a proposal that non-partisan analysts tell us could cost jobs. But then again, these are the same Washington Democrats who’ve been at the helm of our economy for five and a half years — the same ones who’ve been bragging about a recovery for the past four.

“Well, we learned this morning that the economy grew by just 0.1% last quarter. So I can assure you that if this is the Democrats’ idea of a recovery, the people in my state at least aren’t terribly impressed. They’re ready for new ideas. They’re ready to turn the page from the liberal playbook that just hasn’t worked. It’s clearer every day that the D.C. liberal establishment is completely out of ideas. I mean, they don’t even pretend to be serious about jobs anymore. The clearest proof of that is today’s vote — on a bill that could cost about 17,000 jobs in Kentucky alone and potentially as many as a million nationwide. But Senate Democrats don’t really seem to care. They don’t seem to care that about six-in-ten Americans oppose a bill like this if it means losing hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Because Washington Democrats’ true focus these days seems to be making the Far Left happy – not helping the Middle Class.”

Meanwhile, every day there are more stories from all across the country about how Obamacare is hurting American workers: hospital employees laid off in Kansas, Kentucky, and Michigan, teachers’ hours cut in North Carolina and university professors’ hours cut in New Jersey and Ohio, paychecks of county employees cut in Georgia and those of nurses cut in North Carolina, hours limited for prison guards and emergency service personnel in Pennsylvania, and small business owners in Maryland curbing hiring.

Leader McConnell added, “I think our constituents deserve a lot better than what they’ve been getting this year from the Democrats who control the Senate. They’re already struggling under the weight of Washington Democrats’ ideological adventure from a few years ago: Obamacare. . . . Washington Democrats downplayed Obamacare’s negative impact on jobs, just as they’re doing with this legislation today. And yet, the government’s own nonpartisan analysis shows that Obamacare will effectively drive 2.5 million people out of the American workforce. We’re already seeing the effects in Kentucky, where hospitals are laying off workers and cutting salaries because of the impact of this law. One of the largest health systems in the state recently let go of nearly 500 employees – and its CEO stated that Obamacare was a factor in that decision. The head of another community hospital in Glasgow, Kentucky also said that Obamacare was a factor in his hospital’s recent decision to reduce salaries and cut as many as 49 employees. . . . Washington Democrats promised this law would help the little guy, but it ended up hurting many of the same people it purported to help. We’re seeing the same thing with the legislation before us today.”

Democrats like to talk about helping the middle class, but their solutions, like Obamacare, are already costing middle class Americans, and so their answer is to push legislation that would cost Americans even more jobs. Quoting Sen. McConnell said, “[I]t’s time for Washington Democrats to drop the tired ideological approach that’s failed so miserably the last five and half years.”

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