GOP grumbles about jobs plan

POLITICO ^ | 09/12/2011 | MARIN COGAN & JAKE SHERMAN

[Hawk720]

House Republicans may pass bits and pieces of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan, but behind the scenes, some Republicans are becoming worried about giving Obama any victories — even on issues the GOP has supported in the past.

And despite public declarations about finding common ground with Obama, some Republicans are privately grumbling that their leaders are being too accommodating with the president.

“Obama is on the ropes; why do we appear ready to hand him a win?” said one senior House Republican aide who requested anonymity to discuss the matter freely. “I just don’t want to co-own the economy by having to tout that we passed a jobs bill that won’t work or at least won’t do enough.”

Even with the presence of so many GOP-friendly provisions in Obama’s plan — like trade agreements and small-business tax relief — some senior lawmakers are pulling back, wondering how the president will ensure his initiatives will not add to the nation’s debt.

“To assume that we’re naturally for these things because we’ve been for them does not mean we will be for them if they cause debt, if they [have] tax increases and if they take money from the free-enterprise sector, which creates jobs,” said Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, who heads up the House Republican campaign arm.

So as they try to grab smaller, passable measures from Obama’s jobs package, Republicans are also trying to strike their own balance between appearing open to bipartisan solutions and not giving the president an easy legislative victory that could tether them to his ownership of a bad economy.

[silverleaf]

How about grumbling about PAYING OFF THE BILLS and MAKING A BUDGET WITH PRIORITIES BEFORE LETTING BARRY RUN UP MORE DEBT!!!!!

schtoops! idiots! self-centered maroons!

[Recovering_Democrat]

Here is the problem: the House should ALREADY have job-producing bills passed and sent to the Senate. Although they could salvage a win here by saying, “Well, nice to see Hussein has finally realized ‘x’ would work—this is something WE HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!”

[FroggyTheGremlim]

This article was written by two Politico writers (I can't bring myself to call them "journalists").

Hey MARIN COGAN & JAKE SHERMAN , are your spouses also paid operatives of the Democrats like your boss, Chuck-U Todd?

[newzjunkey]

I find it interesting "The American Jobs Act" website is PAID FOR by the DNC.

They claim to have the "Full Plan (Acrobat PDF)" posted but it's not the bill.

Playing their sick identity politics they have these targeted links:"Impact on Women", "Impact on Latinos", "Impact on African Americans" and "Impact on Low-Income Families."

Obviously Barack Obama doesn't care about Whites, Asians, Native Americans, Men or the Middle Class.

[pfony1]

We know that Obama’s strategy is to paint targets on the backs of everyone in the GOP majority:

“See! Republicans only care about tax breaks for the rich!”
“See! Republicans only care about tax breaks for the oil companies!”
“See! Republicans are EVIL! Vote for me!”

So now the GOP needs to decide what to do about Obama’s strategy:

(1) Either play the part of the greedy toads which Obama has assigned to the GOP
(2) Or expose Obama as a fraud.

I prefer strategy #2.

Therefore, IMHO, the House should IMMEDIATELY:

(1) pass a bill to extend the period when Social Security taxes will be withheld at a reduced rate and

(2) pass a bill to extend the period for which unemployment assistance payments can legally be made.

Although those two programs are not “good” for the US in the long run — they are not disasters in the short run, in the same way that Obama’s war on energy and energy workers has been a disaster.

Neither program represents a tax-break for the rich or the oil companies. Each could be presented in a simple, short and special-interest-favor-free bill. In this way, the GOP will avoid the trap which oh-so-clever Obama thinks he has set.

IMHO, the funds Obama has proposed to spend in White House controlled programs in the states should instead be awarded to the states as “block grants”, based on their respective populations. In this way, states controlled by Republicans can make less wasteful “investments” than will the states controlled by Democrats. I think this is a great inmprovement over the corrupt pay-to-play deals which Obama would have liked to attach to those “stimulus” funds.

Finally, I think the GOP should pass a “Fair-Tax for Millionaires” bill that would:

(1) not increase the marginal tax rates of the “rich”, but

(2) place “caps” on tax deductions used by the “rich” to minimize their income taxes.

(a) Tax-Free Interest Income.
Tax-free interest above $1MM would be taxed as if
it had been earned on taxable securities.

(b) Charitable Contribution deductions.
Cash contributions above $1MM would not
be “deductible” from taxable income.
No non-cash contributions would be “deductible” from
taxable income.

(c) Mortgage Interest deductions.
Interest paid in excess of $1MM would not be
“deductible” from taxable income.

Let’s see if Obama dares to veto bills that meet the objectives he has claimed are important to him — but which do not provide the opportunities for graft and kick-backs to be found in his rumor of a bill.

[depressed in 06]

DumBO’s props in his Rose Garden announcement were all tax consumers. If there are any private sectors jobs to be created, they, will fall into the 50% who pay no income tax. So, there is only one place to get money for this vote buy, is from the people who create private sector jobs.

Any Republican that supports this needs to be fired.