R.I.P.: Obama’s Terrible “Son of Stimulus” Bill, Disguised As a $447 Billion Jobs Bill, Has Finally Died in the Democrat-Majority Senate
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on October 11, 2011
Pres. Obama’s $447 billion, ill-fated “Son of Stimulus” bill, clumsily disguised as a “jobs bill,” has finally croaked in the Democrat-predominated Senate. This despite all of Majority leader Harry Reid’s efforts to stall the vote on the flawed Obamanomics/Keynesian, jobs-killing package.
Maybe Congress can now work on some real solutions — which don’t including capriciously flushing billions more taxpayer dollars down the stimulus/porkulus commode — to the growing, frightening problems we face with our downward-spiraling economy.
From Fox News, Obama’s Jobs Bill Fails to Advance in Senate Despite White House Push:
President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill failed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Democratic-controlled Senate Tuesday night despite a White House push that accelerated in the 11th hour.
The bill received a simply majority of 51 votes but fell short of the necessary 60 to end debate. Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana were the only Democrats to vote against the bill. Both of them are facing tough re-election campaigns next year.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., had said earlier that although he intended to vote in favor of ending the Republican filibuster, he did not intend to support the bill if it reached a final vote.
Now that it has failed, both the House and Senate are expected to turn this week to approving U.S. trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, one of the few areas of agreement between Republicans and the administration on boosting the economy. And Senate Democrats are looking at ways of breaking the jobs bill into pieces that would be easier to pass.
Obama declared earlier Tuesday that the U.S. Senate faced a “moment of truth” when it voted on the bill.
“This is gut check time,” Obama told a union crowd in Pittsburgh not long before Congress’ first vote on the plan. “Right now, our economy needs a jolt. Right now. And today, the Senate of the United States has a chance to do something, right now, by voting for the American Jobs Act.”
The White House also launched an offensive Tuesday in hopes of gaining enough support.
[...]
Republicans dismissed the president’s proposal as a stimulus plan like the one two years ago that they argue failed to turn the economy around.
“The legislation we’ll be voting on today is many things, but it’s not a jobs bill,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said Tuesday. “And Republicans will gladly vote against any legislation that makes it harder to create jobs right now.”
[...]
The president has been struggling in opinion polls, and passage of the measure has always been a long shot, given that Republicans control the House and can use delaying tactics in the Senate.
Obama also said that he was instructing his staff to move forward on job-creating initiatives without congressional approval where possible. The White House announced steps to speed environmental and other regulatory approvals for 14 public works projects across the country.
“We’re not going to wait for Congress,” Obama said.
This was posted at The Hill yesterday — Dems scramble to save face on jobs bill:
Democratic leaders in the Senate are scrambling to avoid defections on President Obama’s jobs package, which appears headed for defeat on Tuesday.
A lack of Democratic unity on the president’s bill would be embarrassing for the White House, which has been scolding House Republicans for refusing to vote on the measure.
Obama has been touring the country, aiming to put pressure on the GOP to act. But Senate Democrats have indicated they are feeling some heat. Last week, Democratic leaders revised Obama’s bill, scrapping his proposed offsets. Instead of raising taxes on families making more than $250,000 annually, Senate Democrats lifted that figure to $1 million.
Despite the changes, the legislation still does not enjoy the support of all 53 senators who caucus with the Democrats. A handful of Democrats are undecided or leaning no on the bill.
From conservative and notable economist Thomas Sowell:
Many in the media are saying how unusual it is for our economy to be so sluggish for so long, after we have officially emerged from a recession. In a sense, they are right. But, in another sense, they are profoundly wrong.
The American economy usually rebounds a lot faster than it is doing today. After a recession passes, consumers usually increase their spending. And when businesses see demand picking up, they usually start hiring workers to produce the additional output required to meet that demand.
Some very sharp downturns in the American economy, such as in the early 1920s, were followed quickly by bouncing back to normal levels or beyond. The government did nothing — and it worked.
In that sense, this is an unusual recovery in how long it is taking and in how slowly the economy is growing — while the government is doing virtually everything imaginable.
Government intervention may look good to the media but its actual track record — both today and in the 1930s — is far worse than the track record of letting the economy recover on its own.
Americans today are alarmed that unemployment has stayed around 9 percent for so long. But such unemployment rates have been common for years in Western European welfare states that have followed policies similar to policies being followed currently by the Obama administration.
[...]
As unusual as 9 percent unemployment rates may seem to the current generation of Americans, unemployment rates stayed in double digits for months and years on end during the 1930s. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration followed policies very similar to those of the Obama administration today. He also got away with it politically by blaming his predecessor.
Hmm… sounds familiar.
Obama as FDR
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