“O’Really…Really?”
By
Russ Jackson
I have to tip my hat off to the Democrats. The recently passed jobs bill ( http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/10/house.funding.bill/index.html?hpt=T2 ) in the House of Representatives is a political masterpiece. The Republicans have challenged the Democrats on excess Government spending (skyrocketing deficit and continued uncontrolled government spending). The Republicans have challenged the Democrats on frivolous spending (the stimulus bill that has not touched the unemployment number so far). So, what do the Democrats do? They develop a “jobs bill” consisting of $26 billion aimed at bailing out the States and saving over a hundred thousand jobs. You can see more details of the bill on the Speaker’s website: http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0403. These are not just regular bureaucratic meaningless jobs, but Teachers, Policemen, and Firefighters. So, the Democrats get a big check for actually passing meaningful legislation.
The Democrats also get a big check for making the Jobs Bill deficit neutral. Here is the kicker here: this bill is paid in part by closing a corporate tax loophole that allowed corporations to receive Government funds (your money and mine) to pay for foreign taxes. In other words, corporations were given an additional incentive to place manufacturing and other businesses outside the United States. Since I have been a victim of manufacturing going oversees, I can not find any reason to oppose the closing of this loophole. I think you would be hard pressed to find any working class American to oppose the closing of this loophole. The rest of the monies come from cuts to other pieces of the budget, as well as from the stimulus bill.
How many Republicans voted for this Bill in the House? 2. Now, I disagree with the Democrats on many, many things. Spending and bailouts are two of them. I have lately found myself agreeing with the Republican “Just say No” campaign over the past several months. But I find myself scratching my head on this one. By voting No to this Jobs Bill (which makes a good deal of sense at least to me), the Republicans have actually painted themselves as the party of “No”, instead of the party of “No to senseless spending and increased Federal Government”, which is the party I think they should be. I know that the Republicans believe that their base is most likely with them on this issue, but I am not sure that your average American is. It is one thing to say “No” to ridiculous legislation (Health Care Reform), and another thing to say “No” to everything. By saying “No” to the jobs bill, the Republicans have lived up to what the Democrats have been saying now for months, that the Republican Parties agenda is to make Barrack Obama a failure.
So, again, hats off to the Democrats on this one. In one fell swoop, I think they have put themselves back on the map for the midterm elections with this one piece of legislation. Not only did they help out their base (Teachers unions), they made the Republicans look silly by voting “No” to the best piece of legislation floated in Washington in the past 2 years.
Russ Jackson
8/10/2010
By
Russ Jackson
I have to tip my hat off to the Democrats. The recently passed jobs bill ( http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/10/house.funding.bill/index.html?hpt=T2 ) in the House of Representatives is a political masterpiece. The Republicans have challenged the Democrats on excess Government spending (skyrocketing deficit and continued uncontrolled government spending). The Republicans have challenged the Democrats on frivolous spending (the stimulus bill that has not touched the unemployment number so far). So, what do the Democrats do? They develop a “jobs bill” consisting of $26 billion aimed at bailing out the States and saving over a hundred thousand jobs. You can see more details of the bill on the Speaker’s website: http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0403. These are not just regular bureaucratic meaningless jobs, but Teachers, Policemen, and Firefighters. So, the Democrats get a big check for actually passing meaningful legislation.
The Democrats also get a big check for making the Jobs Bill deficit neutral. Here is the kicker here: this bill is paid in part by closing a corporate tax loophole that allowed corporations to receive Government funds (your money and mine) to pay for foreign taxes. In other words, corporations were given an additional incentive to place manufacturing and other businesses outside the United States. Since I have been a victim of manufacturing going oversees, I can not find any reason to oppose the closing of this loophole. I think you would be hard pressed to find any working class American to oppose the closing of this loophole. The rest of the monies come from cuts to other pieces of the budget, as well as from the stimulus bill.
How many Republicans voted for this Bill in the House? 2. Now, I disagree with the Democrats on many, many things. Spending and bailouts are two of them. I have lately found myself agreeing with the Republican “Just say No” campaign over the past several months. But I find myself scratching my head on this one. By voting No to this Jobs Bill (which makes a good deal of sense at least to me), the Republicans have actually painted themselves as the party of “No”, instead of the party of “No to senseless spending and increased Federal Government”, which is the party I think they should be. I know that the Republicans believe that their base is most likely with them on this issue, but I am not sure that your average American is. It is one thing to say “No” to ridiculous legislation (Health Care Reform), and another thing to say “No” to everything. By saying “No” to the jobs bill, the Republicans have lived up to what the Democrats have been saying now for months, that the Republican Parties agenda is to make Barrack Obama a failure.
So, again, hats off to the Democrats on this one. In one fell swoop, I think they have put themselves back on the map for the midterm elections with this one piece of legislation. Not only did they help out their base (Teachers unions), they made the Republicans look silly by voting “No” to the best piece of legislation floated in Washington in the past 2 years.
Russ Jackson
8/10/2010
I fully agree that in the court of public opinion, this is a wonderful move by the democratic party. It certainly can look bad for republicans who voted against this bill. The onus has now been put on the republicans to prove their points of contention, namely, that the democrats are putting "innocent civilians" in harms way as a human shield.
ReplyDeleteMost people would agree that teachers, policemen/women, firefighters are extremely important parts of our everyday lives. As such, why are their jobs the ones that are being threatened in the first place? Shouldn't the money for them be some of the last to be cut? Aren't there any other places in the budget that are more expendable? After working in a government funded medical clinic, I can tell you that the answer is a resounding YES!
I am quite happy to hear that it is budget neutral and has some other benefical aspects to it.
Oh, there are reasons to be agaisnt it. You named one in particular. The true problem is that the States are in very poor shape financially speaking (and they do not have money making printing presses) and why is that? Well, 12 million job losses over the past 1.5 years kind of depleted the tax base. So, the real answer to the problem is private (not public) job creation, not a bailout. But, again, the way that this was framed by the Dems was really brilliant, and to the untrained eye, made the Repubs look silly.
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