Senator Harry Reid blocks vote on Obama's job bill

From the Associated Press:

“At least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where members of Congress stand,” the president said. “Put your cards on the table.”
Even as Obama spoke, McConnell was attempting to call his bluff by pushing for a quick Senate vote on the jobs bill, which Senate Democrats have acknowledged doesn’t have the support to pass. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid objected so he could delay action until Democrats can corral more support. . . .

Here is an earlier September 5th story from the Associated Press:

President Barack Obama said today that congressional Republicans must put their country ahead of their party and vote to create new jobs as he used a boisterous Labor Day rally to aim a partisan barb at the GOP. In a preview of the jobs speech he will deliver on Thursday to Congress, Obama said there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding in the US, and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who are available to build them.

Citing massive federal budget deficits, Republicans have expressed opposition to spending vast new sums on jobs programs. But Obama said that with widespread suffering, "the time for Washington games is over" and lawmakers must move quickly to create jobs. "But we're not going wait for them," he said at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. "We're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in Congress. We're going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party." . . .

UPDATE: More on Obama bashing Republicans over the stalled bill.

A combative President Barack Obama challenged a divided Congress on Thursday to unite behind his jobs bill or get ready to be run "out of town" by angry voters. Hoping to use public frustration and economic worry as leverage, he called his proposal an insurance plan against a painful return to recession.

In a news conference long on restatements of his ideas, Obama laid bare the dynamic that now is Washington: The era of compromise is over.

Frustrated over getting nowhere with Republicans, Obama demanded that they explain themselves to the country and promised to keep "hammering way until something gets done."

Despite Obama's taunts, Republicans showed no signs of switching positions. Instead, they pressed unsuccessfully for a symbolic vote later in the day so they could demonstrate their opposition to the bill the president submitted three weeks ago. They also predicted they would prevail next week when Democrats try to advance a reworked version, which Obama supports, with a tax on millionaires.

Speaking at a forum just about the same time as Obama, House Speaker John Boehner said the president had decided to "give up on governing, give up on leading." Said Boehner: "We're legislating. He's campaigning." . . .

UPDATE: Change in Senate rules. Democrats claim that they are changing the rules because Republicans are slowing things down, but they really changed the rules because Republicans were trying to force the Democrats to vote on Obama's proposed jobs bill. They were upset that Republicans were trying to speed up a vote, not slow it down.

Senate Republicans tried to embarrass Democrats who don't support President Obama's job bill by forcing a vote on the measure Thursday, but Democrats responded by stripping Republicans of legislative power.

The GOP tried to force Democrats to vote on Obama's $447 billion jobs-creation bill to prove that even the president's own party doesn't support the proposal. Republicans tried to attach the jobs bill to a measure dealing with China.

However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., responded to the Republican effort with a proposal, approved 51-48, that changed the rules of the Senate and stripped Republicans of their power to offer amendments to bills once the Senate agreed to cut off debate and vote.

It was an unusual and devastating blow to the minority party.

Reid and Democrats said they retaliated because they have grown tired of Republicans trying to slow down or block legislation with amendments unrelated to the bill on the floor. . . .