Posted on 08/20/2012 10:17:18 AM PDT by Son House
"It's time to pass this jobs bill and get America working again," Obama said, griping that it's been three weeks since he sent it to Congress.
McConnell, on the Senate floor shortly before the speech, said Obama "is entitled to a vote." He offered it as an amendment to a separate bill dealing with China currency.
After Reid objected, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart blasted out a memo to the press suggesting complaints from within Reid's own caucus could be behind his reluctance to move forward.
...While McConnell tried to fast-track the package to the floor Tuesday, Republicans are by no means in favor of it.
House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said Monday the bill is dead on the House side.
Cantor told reporters the GOP is ready to "work together" on parts of the president's proposal, but Republicans won't stand for taking up the bill as a take-it-or-leave-it deal.
"Now, the president continues to say, pass my bill in its entirety. As I have said from the outset, the all-or-nothing approach is just unacceptable," Cantor said.
The GOP leader said the House would carve out and act on a proposal to end a requirement that the government withhold 3 percent of payments to contractors.
...On Monday, Obama urged Congress to pass the bill by the end of the month. The president, speaking at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas, on Tuesday, singled out Cantor for resisting a vote in his chamber.
"What's the problem? Do they not have the time? They just had a week off," he said, again urging a vote in Congress "so that the entire country knows exactly where members of Congress stand." He did not mention McConnell.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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