Obama pushes so-called jobs bill, but Democrats say "no"

Co-sponsors for Obama's jobs plan as of October 2, 2011 (Senate, House)


So with no Democratic co-sponsors in either House and with the Democrats firmly in control of the Senate and they have been delaying bringing it up there, who does Obama attack? Why the Republicans of course.

Politico fails to mention the divisions within the Democratic party over the so-called "jobs bill."

President Barack Obama sent his $447 billion jobs bill to Congress nearly three weeks ago and, he said on Saturday that he wants it back.

“This jobs bill is fully paid for. This jobs bill contains the kinds of proposals that Democrats and Republicans have supported in the past,” Obama said in his weekly address to the nation. “And now, I want it back. It is time for Congress to get its act together and pass this jobs bill so I can sign it into law.”
Republicans have said that they agree with some of what’s in the American Jobs Act, and the president wants to know what those parts of the bill are. He also wants them to say what they’re opposed to.

“Are they against putting teachers and police officers and firefighters back on the job? Are they against hiring construction workers to rebuild our roads and bridges and schools? Are they against giving tax cuts to virtually every worker and small business in America?”

Echoing arguments he’s made since introducing the plan, the president said Washington should rise above politics and do what’s right for the American people, which — in his view — is passing the bill.

“I know one Republican was quoted as saying that their party shouldn’t pass this jobs bill because it would give me a win,” Obama said, referring to a quote published by POLITICO on Sept. 11 about Republican opposition to the bill that he’s cited several times since.

“Well, this isn’t about giving me a win, and it’s not about [Republicans],” Obama said. . . .

From the Washington Post:

In the House, it has been introduced as a bill by Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.). In the Senate, the bill has been introduced by Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

Neither bill has attracted any co-sponsors.

And, earlier this week, Reid said that the Senate would not take up the bill when it returns from a short recess. Instead, it would first take up a measure to punish China and other nations for currency ma­nipu­la­tion. That bill, in keeping with the Democrats’ strategy, is meant to help several individual senators in manufacturing states, where competition from China is blamed for local job losses.

What about the jobs bill? “We’ll get to that,” Reid told reporters.

So far, the White House has been unwilling to concede that the bill’s chances of becoming law are slim. On Thursday, press secretary Jay Carney said he would buy every reporter in the briefing room a drink if Congress had not taken action on the bill by year’s end.

“I utterly reject your premise,” Carney said, when a reporter said Obama’s bill had little chance of success on the Hill. “Members of Congress will have a lot of explaining to do when they go home at the end of the year if they’ve done nothing, nothing to address the urgent need to help our economy and create jobs. . . . Their constituents are demanding it.”

Meanwhile, even the Democratic controlled Senate isn't going anywhere with the bill in the near future.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, at the moment, Democrats in Congress don’t have the votes to pass President Obama’s jobs bill . . . “The oil-producing-state senators don’t like eliminating or reducing the subsidy for oil companies,” Durbin said. “There are some senators who are up for election who say ‘I’m never gonna vote for a tax increase while I’m up for election, even on the wealthiest people.’ So, we’re not gonna have 100 percent of Democratic senators. That’s why it needs to be bipartisan and I hope we can find some Republicans who will join us to make it happen.” . . .