President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill failed to clear in the Democratic-controlled Senate despite a White House push. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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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.
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.
Obama declared earlier Tuesday that the U.S. Senate faced a “moment of truth†when it votes 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.
The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement the bill will help put Americans back to work without adding a dime to the deficit. And the White House sent a letter from 16 Democratic governors urging congressional leaders to pass the bill.
The White House also began highlighting on its website Tuesday the stories of people who will be affected if Congress doesn’t pass the jobs bill, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
But at the same time, acknowledging reality, Obama said that if Congress did not pass the entire package he was prepared to break it into pieces and try to pass job-creation legislation that way.
The plan combines payroll tax cuts for workers and businesses with $175 billion in spending on roads, school repairs and other infrastructure, as well as unemployment assistance and help to local governments to avoid layoffs of teachers, firefighters and police.
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.”
Supporters of the package disagree and suggest there will be a political price to pay for those who oppose it.
