By IBTimes Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IBTimes's RSS feed
October 13, 2011 10:17 AM EDT
Despite Tuesday night's Senate Republican block of his jobs bill, President Barack Obama has pledged to continue to fight for Congressional action on the proposal -- even if parts of it have to be eliminated to attract GOP votes.
The Democrats hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but in partisan, modern/postmodern, "go nuclear" Washington, the opposition party opposes almost every measure -- even if it address a serious national problem -- just to prevent majority party from obtaining "a victory."
In other words, the "go nuclear" political climate means that Washington is perpetually in campaign mode.
That was the case Tuesday night, when Obama and the Democrats' $447 billion jobs bill that would substantially lower the U.S.' high 9.1 percent unemployment rate passed a test vote in the Senate, but did not receive the 60 votes necessary to prevent a Republican filibuster. That meant the bill was trapped because Senate Republicans would have filibustered the bill indefinitely. In the Senate, 60 votes are need to invoke cloture, or to cut-off a filibuster.
Obama Not Taking No for an Answer
Follow us
Despite the filbuster hurdle, Obama vowed to find a way to get Republicans on board at least part of his jobs plan.
"We will not take no for an answer," Obama said, Usnews.com reported Thursday. "We will keep organizing and we will keep pressuring and we will keep voting until this Congress finally meets its responsibilities and actually does something to put people back to work and improve the economy."
The Obama administration's job bill would provide a dose of much-needed stimulus to the current slow-growth U.S. economy.
The bill would cut the payroll tax for workers and businesses, implement other tax breaks worth about $270 billion, and also allocate $175 billion in additional fiscal stimulus to fund infrastructure projects -- including work on highways, bridges, secondary roads, and schools, among other projects.
The bill would also extend emergency jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, for roughly $44 billion.
The plan would be paid for by a 5 percent surcharge on adults will adjusted gross incomes over $1 million per year in 2012, increasing to a 5.6 percent surcharge in 2013 percent.
Ray of Light From Speaker Boehner?
Further, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., signaled that no jobs bill would pass the Senate until Democrats craft what he argued was a genuinely bipartisan bill, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said parts of the current jobs bill may be acceptable to Republicans, and hence capable of becoming law.
"Not everything the president outlined is something that we agree with; certainly not everything that we've outlined is something the president would agree with," Boehner told The Atlanta Journal Constitution. "But our job on behalf of the American people is to find common ground and to do our best for them, and we will continue to do that."
Mark Zuckerberg's $6.4 Billion Loss: Value Of Facebook CEO's Stake A Gambler's Nightmare
Tasha Reign Says ‘Super Hot’ Bill Clinton Wanted To Meet Her and Brooklyn Lee, ‘Sympathetic’ For Viral Photo
Larry Flynt Blasts ‘Prudish And Delusional Right Wing’ Over S.E. Cupp Hustler Photo As ‘The View’ Hosts Jump To The Defense
Joe Biden Says He Understood Suicidal Thoughts In Wrenching Speech To Families Of Fallen Troops
Mitt the Bully, Barack the Stoner? Candidates Have Very Different High School StoriesWe value your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.
