« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

This Week in Washington – October 11, 2011

By: Brian Darling (Diary)  |  October 11th, 2011 at 09:09 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The President’s ideas on creating government funded jobs and three free trade agreements are two big issues for Congress this week.  This week is shortened by the Columbus Day holiday.

The House is expected to sent three free trade agreements this week to the Senate and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to the President’s desk.  TAA is a liberal welfare program that provides resources and job traning to those who lose jobs as a result of trade.  Expect a battle in the Senate on a version of the President’s so called American Jobs Act and a Republican bill addressing job creation bill. 

The Senate is not taking up the same bill that President Obama submitted to Congress because of the tax provisions in the President’s plan.  Senate Democrats don’t want to vote for increased taxes on individuals making $200K and families making $250K. 

The AP has an excellent analysis explaining why the President’s rhetoric is not matching up with the reality of his American Jobs Act.

When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party has struggled to unite behind the proposal. When the president says Republicans haven’t explained what they oppose in the plan, he skips over the fact that Republicans who control the House actually have done that in detail. And when he calls on Congress to “pass this bill now,” he slides past the point that Democrats control the Senate and were never prepared to move immediately, given other priorities. Senators are expected to vote Tuesday on opening debate on the bill, a month after the president unveiled it with a call for its immediate passage.

The leader of the Senate is a Democrat, therefore it defies logic to accuse Republicans of holding up the President’s jobs bill.  Senate Democrats have refuse to introduce the President’s jobs bill containing the President’s ideas on tax increases. Senate Democrats are introducing a new version of the American Jobs Act with modifications to the tax language.  If the President’s bill were to come up in the Senate this week intact, it would not get a majority of support in the Democrat controlled Senate.

On Tuesday, the House will consider 6 items on the suspension calendar H.R. 2433 (Veterans Opportunity to Work Act),  H.R. 2074 (Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention Act), H.R. 2302 (a bill dealing with notification of Congress about conferences sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs), H.R. 2349 (Veterans’ Benefits Training Improvement Act),  H.R. 1263(a measure to provide surviving spouses of service members protections against mortgage foreclosure),  and H.R. 1025 (a bill to modify the definition of veteran). 

The House will finish consideration of an EPA regulatory reform bill, H.R. 2250, and then move on to the three pending free trade agreements.  The House is expected to pass the following free trade agreements this week: U.S. – Columbia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act (H.R. 3078), U.S. Panama Promotion Agreement Implementation Act (H.R. 3079), and  - U.S. – Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (H.R. 3080).  TAA (H.R. 2832) is expected to come up under a structured rule whereby TAA is not transmitted to the President until the three free trade agreements are passed by the House and/or Senate.

The Senate is scheduled to have three roll call votes today.  The first is on a nomination today, followed by a final passage on on the China currency bill (S. 1619) and cloture on the motion to proceed to the American Jobs Act (S. 1660). 

A debate is expected on a Republican version if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) allows debate on a competing version.  Last week, Senator Reid pulled the Nuclear Option trigger in order to abolish the opportunity for Republicans to offer amendments post cloture.  This strong arm move by Reid effectively shut off the power of individual Senators to offer amendments to bill, unless if they receive the consent of Senator Reid.

Tags: , , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • kestrel

    So, 99 weeks of unemployment is not enough? Chronically unemployed people also need up to three years of “Trade Adjustment Assistance” retraining help? Is Heritage going to score the vote on this by any chance?

    Daniel Horowitz called the TAA a “subjectively doled out… slush fund for special interests”, and pointed out that studies show it “has failed to boost long-term success for the unemployed.”

    This program needs to be left expired, not renewed. If a two-year trial of it in a dramatically stimulus-expanded form failed, why on earth are Republicans considering renewing it?

    You know, Brian, here’s how I view the 2009 stimulus: We not only had a Democrat-passed $787B stimulus in 2009, we had a Republican-passed $787B stimulus in 2010, and another Republican-passed $787B stimulus in 2011. (Budget votes are important.) And if Republicans won’t adhere to the Ryan 2012 budget levels in the continuing resolution they just passed, there’s no reason to think we won’t have another Republican-passed $787B stimulus in 2012. In other words, I do not accept “base-line” budgeting. I doubt others in my precinct do/will either.

    Tell me, Mr. Darling, how does the monstrously thick Republican skull come into being? Does a rational brain atrophy into bone the longer it is in Washington D.C.? What is it? What don’t they understand about WE ARE BROKE!

  • lookingforward

    This bill should be titled the North Korean Free Trade Agreement, as it will allow almost unlimited products built by slave labor in North Korea to be sold in the US as “South Korean” products. This is due to the inclusion of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaesong_Industrial_Region) in the agreement. This is estimated to raise more than $9 billion per year for Kim Jong Il while forcing thousands of North Koreans to work for pennies an hour under threat of torture or death so that we can save some money on TVs and cars. I am a huge supporter of free trade, but until North Korea is clearly excluded, Congress should kill this agreement.

    • aesthete

      On the one hand… it’s North Korea, the most totalitarian state on the planet. While I think 9 bil is a bit high, the ~2 bil number I’ve seen elsewhere is estimated to be 12% of the N Korean economy. Having this (or most of this) go into the pockets of the North Korean leadership sticks in my craw, as it should in anyone’s. While most every charge of “slave labor” in the context of free trade is hyperbolic and untrue, in the case of N Korea it’s an accurate descriptor.

      On the other hand… increasing the skills, experience, and working conditions of North Koreans through South Korean capitalism is both a) an inherent good and b) great propaganda for capitalism into the North. Moreover, having at least one potential “crack” into North Korea might make espionage and smuggling attempts go easier. If you believe that re-unification is inevitable, it also makes a good deal of sense to industrialize the North in a semi-capitalistic way so that the North and its citizenry aren’t completely worthless upon unification.

      I guess it depends on whether you think that the “people power” of more subversive activity in the North is worth having Nork leadership get a ~2 bil payout.