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The proposal on the table seemed like a no-brainer. The public sector has been hemorrhaging jobs, dragging down the economy, and undermining the quality of public services. The White House and congressional Democrats came up with a pretty straightforward solution: direct $35 billion to states in order to protect/create 400,000 jobs for school teachers, police officers, and firefighters.
Sensitive to budget constraints, Dems agreed the bill shouldn’t increase the deficit at all, so they agreed to finance the plan with a 0.5% surtax that would only affect millionaires and billionaires — and even that wouldn’t kick in until 2013.
The public is demanding Washington act on the jobs crisis, and this proposal enjoyed very strong support from the American mainstream. A CNN poll released this week found that 75% of the public — and 63% of self-identified Republican voters — endorsed this jobs proposal, and 76% agreed with the financing plan.
In these divisive times, 75% of Americans don’t agree on much, but they all wanted Congress to pass this bill. It’s tempting to think elected officials would be committing political suicide by fighting to kill a popular jobs plan during a jobs crisis. And yet, here we are.
For the second time in 10 days, the Senate on Thursday rejected Democratic efforts to take up a jobs bill championed by President Obama.
The vote to advance the bill was 50 to 50. Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster.
Keep in mind, the GOP’s filibuster last night was on the motion to proceed — they blocked the Senate’s ability to even discuss the jobs bill.
How many Republicans broke ranks and agreed that the proposal deserved an up-or-down vote? Zero. Not even one alleged “moderate” mustered the courage to give a wildly popular jobs bill a chance to get a vote.
Three conservative members of the Democratic caucus — Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, and Mark Pryor — sided with Republicans.
The outcome didn’t come as a surprise, which is probably why it isn’t a bigger story in the media, but that shouldn’t make the developments any less scandalous. Do conservative senators not realize there’s a jobs crisis in America? Or is it more likely they’re aware of the problem and simply prefer not to act?
I keep thinking about something Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said this week, while she was lecturing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about the importance of improving the economy. “Something’s gone terribly wrong, and what I hear over and over again is that there is no tempo, a tempo of urgency,” she said. “I don’t know who you’re talking to … but you need to talk to the average person. Rome is burning.”
That was on Tuesday. Just 48 hours later, Snowe joined the right in blocking a popular jobs bill.
Something has gone terribly wrong. There is no “tempo of urgency.” I don’t know who Republicans are talking to, but they need to talk to the average person and explain why they care more about preventing a tiny tax increase on the wealthiest of the wealthy — an extra half a penny on the dollar for millionaires and billionaires — than hundreds of thousands of jobs for teachers and first responders.
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c u n d gulag on October 21, 2011 8:06 AM:
Yes, Senator Snowe, 'Rome is burning.'
And I'm "glad" to see that Republicans like you, and fellow ConservaDemIndy's like s Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, and Mark Pryor, threw more Zippo lighter fluid on the conflagration.
It's no longer "Drill, Baby, Drill."
It's BURN, BABY, BURN!!!
Mac on October 21, 2011 8:10 AM:
Senators and house reps should forgo the percentage of their salary that equals the unemployment rate of their constituents. Maybe that would focus their minds a little bit.
Btw, drinks on me the day that Lieberman and Nelson are removed from office. They manage to make their self-serving colleagues look like pillars of principle.
pol on October 21, 2011 8:10 AM:
I don't know about where you live,Steve, but where I do (Virginia), Republicans want to de-fund public schools. The Republican-held House of Delegates even passed a voucher bill(defeated in Democratic Senate) to give corporations tax breaks to pay for poor students to attend private schools -- but elsewhere, cut funding for public schools.
c u n d gulag on October 21, 2011 8:11 AM:
Oh, and btw, Senator Snowe, I'm about to be a 3rd Degree burn victim.
I went through my first two degree burns, and my unemployment officially runs out next Friday, 10/28, unless assholes and shitheels like you and your pals give us an extention.
But I'm not holding my breath.
You're all to busy looking out for your corporate and rich pals to notive small fry like me.
Not enough bad shit can happen to you all?
And, sadly, not enough will...
Pragmatic on October 21, 2011 8:17 AM:
It's not "an extra half a penny on the dollar for millionaires and billionaires." It's a half penny on the dollar of their income OVER A MILLION DOLLARS.
Let's not lose sight of the fact that this is an increase in MARGINAL TAX RATES on income OVER A MILLION DOLLARS.
Equal Opportunity Cynic on October 21, 2011 8:18 AM:
I can't even find the story about this vote on the front page of this Portland paper's site: http://www.pressherald.com/ Not sure how anyone but political junkies in ME would even know enough to hold her to account. THAT is what we must get creative to change.
NickNayme on October 21, 2011 8:27 AM:
I tend to believe that Collins and Snowe recognize that they should support - or at least be willing to discuss - this is similar job-creating legislation, but feel they cannot because of the need to be loyal to their caucus and party, rather than to their constituents and the nation. I find it loathsome, but at least I can explain it.
What I cannot explain are the votes of a Nelson, Pryor, or Lieberman. I read that they they have to vote this way to cater to the conservative electorates of their respective states, and I recognize this is a problem for Nelson and Pryor (though not Lieberman, as far as I can tell). But surely that should not drive these votes when the legislation is so popular that over 60% of Republican voters support it? Is it possible they oppose this bill on principle? How?
hells littlest angel on October 21, 2011 8:28 AM:
If the Democrats can be just as relentless in telling the truth as the Republicans have been in obstructing and bullshitting, we'll eventually prevail. It's unfortunate that it will likely take until 2013, but there just are no shortcuts around these right-wing dead-enders.
Basilisc on October 21, 2011 8:30 AM:
Here are the Republican Senators who are up for re-election next year:
Brown (MA)
Heller (NV)
Snowe (ME)
Lugar (IN)
Wicker (MS)
Corker (TN)
Hatch (UT)
Barrasso (WY)
Will Democrats spend the next twelve months hitting them, and hitting them hard, over this vote? The media won't do it for them.
Severian on October 21, 2011 8:30 AM:
NickNayme: As for Lieberman, I think whatever "principles" he may once have had long ago devolved into "whatever I can do to piss off the liberals who rejected me." Seriously, how else do you explain someone from a solidly blue state behaving the way he does?
SW on October 21, 2011 8:36 AM:
That's OK. These idiots are just writing campaign ads now. They don't understand it. But they will be devastating. Even in their 'conservative' states.
FlipYrWhig on October 21, 2011 8:36 AM:
@ NickNayme: The "principle" is usually rampaging fear that their next opponent will run ads depicting them as having raised taxes, and the ads will talk about "billions of dollars" rather than the income levels of the people affected.
hells littlest angel on October 21, 2011 8:38 AM:
NY Times headline:
"Obama's Jobs Plan Is Blocked Again by Senate Republicans"
Washington Post headline:
"Senate Republicans block $35 billion for teachers and first responders"
chi res on October 21, 2011 8:39 AM:
Seriously, how else do you explain someone from a solidly blue state behaving the way he does?
Start work for K Street 01/13; touching up resume.
martin on October 21, 2011 8:45 AM:
And, again, not a word about filibuster on NPR. Although I will give them credit for being a week late saying that last week there was a filibuster. Maybe next week they will report there was a filibuster on this week's jobs bill.
Hedda Peraz on October 21, 2011 8:47 AM:
Missing from the story was VP Biden's despicable and outrageous remarks equating the rise in rapes and murders to Republicans blocking this vote. Have you no comity sir?
So sad; you were once one of us, a cherished member of the most exclusive club on the planet!
c u n d gulag on October 21, 2011 8:54 AM:
hells littlest angel,
OMG!
You're right about those headlines!
I thought you were kidding me!
Is this the first in a long line of reality-based headlines?
Or, will they soon return to "President Obama failed to get his ____________ bill through the House/Senate."
Or, my personal favorite - "President Obama was dealt a crushing/expected/stunning/anticipated/surprising blow when neither/both sides blah, blah, blah-dee-blah blah..."
delNorte on October 21, 2011 8:55 AM:
That's OK. These idiots are just writing campaign ads now. They don't understand it. But they will be devastating. Even in their 'conservative' states.
No, it's not OK. Please remember: this is not (just) a political game. This is about actual people needing actual jobs to put actual food in the mouths of actual children. Never lose sight of that fact.
FRP on October 21, 2011 9:07 AM:
The Boston Globe had this "By Andrew Taylor Associated Press" for its report .
Lets hope people remember what happened when they were offered a lifeline , and who denied them one .
The crowd around these strutting champions of American plutocracy are protected by the all to numerous colleagues who hide them in anonymity .
Such a nice holiday impulse to give the five hundred dollars back to the poor bleeding millionaire .
KurtRex1453 on October 21, 2011 9:13 AM:
The coup continues.
Josef K on October 21, 2011 9:14 AM:
hell's little angel at 8:38am is correct and those are the actual headlines. I had to check both websites to make sure, as it breaks with Republican-friendly narrative (in a big way).
Mayhap we'll see some progress after all. The American people need it.
kevo on October 21, 2011 9:18 AM:
Enveloped in their own nacre,
our political leaders
in the Republican suits
have grown cold in their mean,
isolated in their reflection,
and cruel in their efforts!
McConnell, Boehner, Cantor and DeMint -
add the title political leader,
stir,
and we get the most grotesque
oxymoron result no one
would want to wear!
I'm working two jobs because I'm lucky I fell into the second as I was spiraling down into the live-under-the-bridge feeling when I took pay cuts and my bills didn't go down as I was helping my three children end their H.S. experiences, and found two yearning for college.
Ya think the Republican brand cares? We all know the answer, as it was yet again affirmed yesterday by the action the Republican senators took.
On whose behalf do these saboteurs work?-Kevo
T2 on October 21, 2011 9:26 AM:
the AP story on the vote, titled Senate Rejects..bla bla, goes on to say that Obama's strategy on the bill is losing support with voters..... Where in hell is evidence of that? Polls show overwhelming support of the jobs bill and taxing millionaires to pay for it.
So GOP Senate votes 100% against a Jobs Bill and AP decides the problem is Obama's "strategy". And they call that "reporting"?
bdop4 on October 21, 2011 9:35 AM:
The solution is not to relent, but to keep the lid on and turn up the heat. Cook these motherfuckers until they start squealing and then cook them some more.
I don't know how much pain the moron constituents will have to feel before they start giving these people some serious shit, but it's going to happen at some point. I'm made at the GOP, but I'm even more mad at the conservative shitheads that put them in office. They need to feel more of the pain because reason certainly isn't working.
James M on October 21, 2011 9:37 AM:
Unprecedented.
I remember Republicans being wrong, and I remember Republicans being mean-spirited. But, I can not remember even a single instance when Republicans tried to wreck the economy on purpose.
Can anyone else?
FriscoSF on October 21, 2011 9:39 AM:
WHY wasn't passage of the 'Free Trade' (sic) agreements predicated on passage of this bill ?
EVERY UNION but the UAW OPPOSED 'Free' Trade
EVERY Republican Senator but Olympia Snow SUPPORTED 'Free' Trade
WHY Didn't Obama make a Deal ??
What a CHUMP !!
His Apologists on this blog don't want to answer
Is there ANY reason to think that,l if re-elected Obama won't be just as Ineffective and Incompetent as he is now ?
That his supporters won't keep wring their hands for the next four years, wondering how Republicans can be so MEAN ??
hells littlest angel on October 21, 2011 9:50 AM:
@bdop4: Yes. Even Republicans will respond to pressure. Some few will do the right thing, while the rest will alienate their constituents as they go all in on their anti-American obstructionism. Even Eric Cantor has recently been trying, without much success, to not sound like quite so much like a spoiled, rich jerkoff.
zandru on October 21, 2011 10:53 AM:
Today's Big Headline
in the Albuquerque Journal was how Republicans are pushing for nationwide concealed carry laws.
It's all a matter of priorities.
fignaz on October 21, 2011 11:05 AM:
Dear Senator Snowe (R- Chowderhead),
Where was your concern when your colleagues spent the better part of a decade playing with matches, sent a budget surplus up in smoke. and set the fires now burning Rome? Look in the mirror. Before you call out a cabinet officer for lack of "tempo" & "urgency", upbraid your colleagues for suddenly making 60 votes the sine qua non for all legislation & not just for passing legislation, but for simply allowing debate on legislation. No debate? Ever? What are you afraid of? And finally you might want to define what you mean by "average person" since a hefty majority of those polled approve of the jobs bill, approve of the surtax, and think you & the other obstructionists in your party are full of old shoes (A New Englandism I'm sure you'll recognize as a polite version of something much more salty).
Thank you, thank you very much... fignaz has left the building
mercedes on October 21, 2011 11:59 AM:
If you want to write to your senators, you can go to this website:
opencongress.org
to show you support or oppose any bill.
ohhenery on October 21, 2011 12:31 PM:
A most dreary year for the unemployed bought and paid for you by the fine folks on Gray Street -- where everyone dresses alike, thinks alike and are afraid of their own shadows.
Christiaan on October 21, 2011 1:09 PM:
I always thought that a filibuster was a procedure to *extend* a debate, rather than prevent one from happening. Silly me.
I actually wonder why it's still called "filibuster", because this has nothing whatsoever to do with what used to be understood by that term before 1975. The whole rationale for having it does not exist anymore. The proper term for it is "obstruction" plain and simple.
So when will the media start calling it that, as they properly should? Instead they're even worse, and call it a vote against the bill.
JDReign on October 21, 2011 1:30 PM:
@FriscoSF
Find a new talking point Either you are this dumb or pretending to be this dumb. The GOP would willingly sacrifice a trade deal to stop any economic boosting initiative. But you are one of these completely worthless arm politicos who knows "what should have been done" and justs completely ignore the fact that the GOP wants the economy to stay miserable in order to go on another tired cliche Obama bashing rant
Sammy on October 21, 2011 7:40 PM:
And yet, and yet, many teachers and first responders will continue to vote republican.