House Democrats slam Cantor on jobs: "Half a loaf is not enough"
Liberals in the House on Tuesday slammed House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for dismissing large portions of President Obama's jobs bill, charging that the GOP leader is opposed to the policies that would do the most to put people back to work.
"We can't allow the Republicans to pick parts they are comfortable with and leave out what they oppose," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Rep. Lynne Woolsey, D-Calif., said Congress should pass "nothing less" than the $447 billion "American Jobs Act" that Mr. Obama sent to Congress yesterday. More than half of the bill consists of tax cuts for businsses and working Americans. It also includes aid for state and local governments to keep public workers like teachers on the payroll, as well as billions for infrastructure projects and other stimulative measures.
With the unemployment rate stuck at around 9 percent, Woolsey said the solution to the jobs crisis "must be big, and it must be bold."
"Half a loaf is not enough," she said. "We cannot cut this baby in half."
Yesterday, Cantor said that "anything that is akin to the stimulus bill I think is not going to be acceptable to the American people... We've been there, done that."
Reiterating his earlier calls for cooperation, Cantor said there are a "number of areas" in which Republicans and Democrats could come to agreement, including providing tax relief to small businesses, passing free trade bills, removing regulatory burdens and reforming unemployment benefits.
Cantor also repeated his assertion that Mr. Obama is taking an "all-or-nothing approach" to the legislation that is not constructive.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said it was "no surprise" to her that "Republicans are willing to consider parts of bill that don't actually put people back to work."
"If you want to create jobs, create jobs -- more jobs for teachers police, firefighters," she continued, critiquing the conservative viewpoint that government can't create jobs but only make it easier for business owners to hire people. "Nevermind about rich people being job creators....businesses need more customers to begin hiring."
The Progressive Caucus unveiled its jobs bill today that focuses on domestic manufacturing, infrastructure investments, green jobs, educational investments and progressive tax reform. It's to the left of Mr. Obama's plan and is unlikely to go anywhere, but it's clear Mr. Obama and the Democrats are taking a strong stance on the issue of jobs in order to gain leverage in their negotiations with the GOP.
Mr. Obama has urged Congress to take up his whole bill, although White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today that if Congress passes just portions of it, Mr. Obama will sign it and push lawmakers to do more.
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So we have people who want to take over the government so they can kill it. Since the nightmare of Reagan.
The sooner everyone stops dancing around that particular issue, the better.
Hoyer is right about the United States having competitors all over the world, but that is even more reason to stop the damaging practice of having one of the highest corporate tax in the world. We will still have infrastructure work done, but it is crazy to pile on an additional $450 billion in federal spending when we have given the task of cutting $1.5 trillion in federal spending to the 12 representatives. All of us would love having better highways and bridges, but we do not have the money.
Progressives have been imposing huge additional regulations and expenses on private sector businesses are killing American jobs like never before. The idiotic health care law imposes huge new regulations and expenses on businesses in 2014, and many business owners are having to put cash aside for that nonsense rather than hire workers. We can not afford more of the same. We can not afford tax increases on anyone, and we certainly should not discourage people from given to charities during these hard times by removing charitable deductions for taxation. These people are simply wrong headed. They are dreamers, who have little practical knowledge of anything relating to business and jobs.
Most of President Obama's plan is the same old same old failed stimulus crap. If Republicans and responsible Democrats can find pieces of that plan to actually help private sector business - then I hope they pass that portion and send it to the President.
It is President Obama who has been playing political games. He took the time to sit down with union leaders to review his plan, but he refused to give Republicans in Congress the same courtesy prior to giving his speech. We simply do not have the money to spend another $450 in deficit spending on another stimulus package. The President plans to spend $450 billion leading up to the next election, and attempt to pay $400 billion back over the next 10 years. This is not paying for it. This is pushing it down the road for others to pay for it. I hope responsible members of Congress from both parties treat this nonsense as it should be treated, in saying "NO" to $450 billion in more deficit spending.
Then they blame everyone else, and go out and spend some more. The middle
class get no tax breaks because fanatics hold the wimpy republican congress at bay. Destroying the world economy to horde all the worlds money
Part of jobs bill states that if your are unemployed and do not get the job for which you interview, that you have a right to sue the employer for discriminating against you because you are unemployed! How's that for reasoning?
Because President Obama is trying to use the public money of all Americans to pay back his supporters - unions. He took the time to meet with union leaders prior to giving his speech, but he refused to give the same courtesy to Republicans in Congress prior to giving his speech. He is playing political games with $450 billion of the public's money, if you really want to know the truth of the matter.
According to Harvard Magazine, 66% of 2001-2007's income growth went to the top 1% of Americans, while the other 99% of the population got a measly 6% increase. How is this possible?
One thing to consider is that in 2001, George W. Bush cut $1.3 trillion in taxes, and 32.6% of the cut went to the top 1%.. Today, 50 percent of all Capital Gains go to top 0.1 percent of Income, 37 percent to next 4.9 percent, and 10 percent to next 15 percent cupon clippers who get their Income from Investments... Not Work!
Another factor is Bush's decision to increase the national debt from $5 trillion to $11 trillion, with nary a comment from Republican in Congress . The combination of increased government spending and lower taxes helped the top 1% considerably. Then Bush and Cheney started two wars.... "Outside of the Federal Budget:..... which continue today 10 years later. No wonder U. S. is BROKE!
The second part of the con was George Bush & Dick Cheney's "Deregulation and Lack of Financial Enforcement" to mask much of the Power Elites', his "Haves and Have Mores", income streams behind tax shelters and other gaming-of-the-system so the advertised rate appears high to the peasantry but the effective rate paid on total income is much much lower.
The tax shelters are so numerous and so effective that it takes thousands of pages of tax codes and armies of toadies to pursue them all: family trusts, oil depletion allowances, tax-free bonds and of course special one-off tax breaks arranged by "captured" elected officials.
ALL Five Republican "front-runners" ... say "They want to eliminate Capital Gains Tax and Tax on all Dividends"?
The other 95 percent of Americans will have to pay for their "Cuts"?
Jeffrey T. Kuhner of the Washington Times wrote the following on Friday, September 9th:
"President Obama is politically insane. This is the real meaning of his speech Thursday night in front of a joint session of Congress. Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. By that definition, Mr. Obama is a lunatic leftist.
Much of his speech called for more of the same - government activism; massive spending on infrastructure, bridges and roads; extending the payroll tax cut; and more public aid to states and municipalities. In short, he seeks to perpetuate the dismal policies of Obamanomics. He is a reckless ideologue masquerading as a pragmatist."
I take one exception with the phrase "...lunatic leftist." It is inherently redundant.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner of the Washington Times wrote the following on Friday, September 9th:
"President Obama is politically insane. This is the real meaning of his speech Thursday night in front of a joint session of Congress. Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. By that definition, Mr. Obama is a lunatic leftist.
Much of his speech called for more of the same - government activism; massive spending on infrastructure, bridges and roads; extending the payroll tax cut; and more public aid to states and municipalities. In short, he seeks to perpetuate the dismal policies of Obamanomics. He is a reckless ideologue masquerading as a pragmatist."
I take one exception with the phrase "...lunatic leftist." It is inherently redundant.