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Reid’s Jobs Bill Advances

By: Dave Poff (haystack) (Diary)  |  February 23rd, 2010 at 09:30 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Celebrating the GOP aisle-jumpers that helped prop up Harry Reid’s stature in the Senate, the Washington Post announces that Reid’s jobs bill has advanced past the filibuster stage:

Five Republicans, including new Sen. Scott P. Brown (Mass.), joined 57 Democrats in voting to break a filibuster of the jobs bill, after a suspenseful buildup in which members of both parties wondered whether Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) could cobble together enough support to clear the legislative hurdle.

The bipartisan result marked a breakthrough for Democrats, who have been frustrated since President Obama came to office by their inability to attract much Republican support for their agenda. The vote was also a vindication for Reid, who is grappling with a tough reelection race in Nevada and faced questions in Washington over whether he mishandled the jobs issue.

“I hope this is the beginning of a new day in the Senate,” Reid said after the vote.

New day or not, the bill (which replaced an 85 billion dollar bill that had broad GOP support) has very little chance of doing much to help the unemployment situation. The LA Times highlights the main elements of the bill which include “hiring” tax incentives, an extension of funding for highway programs, an expansion of the “build America” bonds program (to cover “certain school and energy projects”), and an equipment write-off option (as opposed to the standard “depreciation over time” mechanism in your garden variety business tax scheme.

This might sound good on paper, but it is highly unlikely to do much about the nearly 15 million of us that are out of work…unless, of course, we have skills to offer for helping build highways. It is also unlikely to do much about the nearly 20% of us that are under-employed, but as newly-elected Senator Scott Brown explained as he voted in favor of the bill, “This Senate jobs bill is not perfect … but I voted for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work.”

We’ll see if “doing a thing badly is better than doing nothing at all” is a good strategy. And, time will tell just how many people will be put back to work on 15 billion dollars, most of which will go towards laying down asphalt and painting pretty white and yellow lines on it.

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COMMENTS

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  • RedBeard

    Just stating the painfully obvious.

    Dear Mr. Government Man: If you want to help, stop helping. Thank you.

    Tangentially, I’m hearing some wailing disappointment about Scott Brown’s vote on this. Why? Were conservatives not paying any attention at all during the campaign? This is no surprise. Brown is exactly who he always has been. I sent him money, and I’m glad he won, but I knew what I was getting. He is orders of magnitude better than his opponent would have been, and that is a good thing.

    • http://www.hickpolitics.com Dave Poff (haystack)

      having said that-I wrote about Brown at my own site and maintain that any who come in to 2010 railing about purity and demnding we run off the so-called “Rinos” had better not be the same ones that were doing somersaults about Brown.

      For the GOP to beat the Democrats, we’re going to need a coalition-not a sterile beaker full of purists…Cons and Mods and Indies together will be what unseats the clowns in the majority…nothing less will do.

      • RedBeard

        The real world has a way of intruding on paradise.

        I’d like nothing better than to see an entire Congress full of originalists, folks who both understand and honor the Constitution and its limits on federal power. It’s essential to work toward that goal. In the process, it’s also crucial to avoid shooting ourselves in the foot by refusing to acknowledge that half a loaf (Brown) is far better than none.

        The lefties have understood incrementalism for decades, and it has (sadly) worked for them. We need to understand it as well, and use it to steer this republic back to its founding principles. It can’t happen overnight in places like Massachusetts, though, so we take what gains we can, where we can.

  • marie_a

    This supposed Senate Jobs Bill is a dated coupon expiring December 31, 2010! So, it grants a business a single-year exemption from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax. The tax write off for equipment is a one time time deal. Though equipment is utilized year after year.

    To get this bipartisan coupon, taxpayers must pay for shovel jobs? Must we also bankroll American Bonds to fund social engineering schemes in the form of school projects and energy aka green projects? This is a raw deal.

  • johnt

    You have to be an ape to fall for it. Media loves it though, no matter how old and tired it gets.

  • dadx3

    Yeah, I knew he wasn’t the most conservative guy in the room when I sent hundreds to his campaign. But still, for a fleeting moment, I thought the guy was sincere about cutting big government waste and spending. As a father of three children who’ll never be able to get out from under this staggering deficit, what else can I do but tilt at windmills?

    I’ll write off the donation as a one time mistake. Never again. I called to have my name removed from his solitation list. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

    • http://www.hickpolitics.com Dave Poff (haystack)

      the push for supporting Brown was his anti-healthcare position and nat’l security position. He ain’t dead yet-but quitting him removes all chance of you engaging him and keeping his feet to the fire.

      A pure Conservative in every way really doesn’t exist…certainly not in very big numbers…and ESPECIALLY not in Massachusetts. We’re going to need to “breed” such a philosophy into those blue bloodlines…it’ll take a generation or 3 at least :) .

      Stick with the process-donating and pursuing worked to seat an R from Mass at the big table…the strategy is working-don’t give up!

  • rwalkerg

    I can’t believe there hasn’t been more words said about Brown crossing the party lines to vote for this bill. It is complete garbage and more spending – the very thing he said he ‘vowed’ not to do. Where is the blow-back? Yes, Brown is better than the clown that could be in there, – but when the election was going on, where were the people that knew he wasn’t as conservative as he claimed and their examples of that (i.e. the warning flags that let us know that he is going to vote for Dem’s & their spending!)?

    Just like ‘dadx3′ says, the donation was a one time mistake. Sure was. With Brown already turning parties, how the heck do I trust all these other up-and-coming ‘conservatives’ with my donation money?? They suddenly find themselves in Washington and join all the other elitists?

  • http://xmmlbchat.blogspot.com katesmith

    Carr on WRKO radio in Boston in pm drive, Brown was on from about 4:07 to 4:30. I’ve been listening online to Carr’s show to hear all things Brown since the lead up to the election. Some people make light of talk radio, but in the case of Carr, many would agree he had a lot to do with Scott Brown getting elected. What I learned today were accessories after the fact. Such as, Brown was happy to say he was the first person casting his vote in the Senate for this bill. That Reid was ecstatic, and isn’t this a great sign, something new. One of Carr’s callers noted Brown’s first comment Tues. morning was ‘terse,’ just saying in effect he carefully considered it and this was the way to go. Brown’s main answer to objections was to ask people if they had read the bill. What I don’t get is how anyone in their right mind could have been eager to cast the first vote on this, still be happy about it, and subsequently be ‘terse.’ I’ve listened to a lot of talk radio, and Carr;s callers are the most well informed. I don’t live in Mass. but sent a small donation, am glad he won, am more concerned about character than anything.

  • redinsf

    I am just glad I never gave him any of my money.

  • jayburd

    That the government provides them? That’s all he’s ever worked for. Funny to listen to the “oh he’s from Mass, he’s got to throw his base a bone”. Where I come from that’s called buying votes with taxpayers’ money. Is there even a nickel’s worth of difference here? Well I guess it’s progress for Mass. He’s not a child molester, deviant pimp, or committed vehicular homicide.

  • casca

    Throw Sen.Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi–OUT–in the midterm elections, because this Liberal moron deliberately–LEFT OUT–any restrictions to stop an illegal alien worker stealing a hard pressed US workers job. He and a whole bunch of Democrats and some Republicans made utterly sure illegal labor was not exempt from the jobs bill. American workers and sincere businesses have pleaded with these vassals of the open border organizations, to close the loopholes with E-Verify. This program eliminates illegal labor and over a period of time will have huge ramifications on those who have catered to discount labor. American workers should make an example of every traitorous politician, who has no intentions of following the will of the people. Specifically now when more than 15 million US workers remain unemployed. Its incomprehensible when so many people cannot pay their mortgages, car payments or even put food on the table.

    ITS NOT GOVERNMENT THATS BROKEN, BUT THE POLITICAL SYSTEM ITSELF, because open border lobbyists, can by and sell Washington votes. Americans must use their vote to remove this corruption, by making an example of Reid and Pelosi. Start pumping out these septic tanks of filth, that has turned against the American worker and giving access to approximately 8 million illegal alien workers. We need true conservatives in the capitol, in state assemblies–not radical Liberals or even wealthy Republicans. Drain the cesspool from Washington in the midterm and future election, as all they care about is building a career in office and campaign contributions. Say–NO to AMNESTY, say No to birthright citizenship, when Mother is an illegal alien. Say–NO–ANY–government handouts or entitlements, including education, only emergency health care procedures.

    Say–NO– to Liberal empowerment that has brought SANCTUARY STATES like California to near bankruptcy. Say–YES–to TRUE CONSERVATISM and the Independent Tea Baggers platform, without Republican intervention. Say–YES–to E-Verify, as a permanent deterrent across the country with rigid ICE raids. Say–YES–to expanded–1-9s Audits, with no exceptions on any business. Say–YES–to imprisonment to ruthless businesses that use foreign labor. Put the National Guard on the Canadian and Southern border.Address the issue of visa over stays, who come here as visitors, students and deport them. GET INVOLVED AND BOMBARD YOUR SPINELESS REPRESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON AT 202-224-312.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Why do you?