Posted on 11/17/2011 9:39:05 AM PST by Driftwood1
(Reuters) - In a rare display of cooperation, Republicans and Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly approved a limited jobs bill on Wednesday that would help some veterans find work but otherwise do little to bring down the nation's 9 percent unemployment rate.
The bill, aimed at government contractors and veterans, is so far the only piece of President Barack Obama's $447 billion job-creation package to clear Congress. Republicans have lined up behind a contrasting agenda of their own ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.
It passed the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote of 422 to 0. Only one lawmaker voted against the bill when it passed the Senate last week. Obama has said he will sign it into law.
Republicans have rejected Obama proposals that would boost construction spending and help cash-strapped local governments avoid layoffs of teachers, police and other public employees.
Congress could still act on other elements due to expire at the end of the year, such as enhanced unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut for workers, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says are among the most effective ways to boost the economy in the short term.
Allowing them to expire would slow economic growth next year, according to CBO.
The bill approved Wednesday represents a small slice of Obama's jobs plan.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Maybe a new record. Spin machine begins in line one...
“Jobs bills” are not what the federal government was constituted to provide. Congress is collectively a bunch of oathbreakers. They have no credibility.
Uh, Andy, yeah, Andy Sullivan, when you write “ - - - In a rare display of cooperation, Republicans and Democrats in Congress - - - “ you err on at least two counts.
The first error that you make is that ANY “cooperation” with the Debtocrats who are determined to destroy America is a Bipartisan Cave-In.
No known Debtocrat has yet to have the courage reverse the strangulations of Obamanation, as of this writing.
The second error is that Bipartisan Cave-In is the USUAL manner of shafting us taxpayers by the idiots that we stupidly elect!
BTW, I also have an emotional opinion on the above topic.
So veterans (who have HAD a job for years) get to come home and bump off those who have been unemployed (and searching) for years.
Way to go Congress!
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