Two "American Jobs Act" bills -- GOP lawmaker swipes Obama's bill name
CBS/AP
Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert is no fan of President Obama's "American Jobs Act," but he does, apparently, think the name is pretty catchy.
The Texas lawmaker introduced his own jobs bill on Wednesday, and he gave it the exact same name as the president's bill. Gohmert says his bill will create jobs simply by taking the corporate tax rate to zero.
"After waiting to see what the president would actually put into legislative language, and then waiting to see if anybody would actually introduce the president's bill in the House, today I took the initiative and introduced the 'American Jobs Act of 2011,'" Gohmert said in a statement. "It is a very simple bill, which will eliminate the corporate tax which serves as a tariff that our American companies pay on goods they produce here in America."
Mr. Obama's bill was introduced in the Senate by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a day earlier.
While Gohmert's bill may steal a bit of the spotlight from Mr. Obama's "American Jobs Act," it can't steal the actual name -- there are no House rules prohibiting two different bills from sharing a name. Bills typically have a long, formal name and a short, informal name -- two different pieces of legislation may share either. It would just be confusing.
Gohmert argues his version of the "American Jobs Act" is better, for one thing, because it's simpler -- it clocks in at two pages, versus 155 pages for Mr. Obama's bill. On top of that, he says it will be more effective, instantly making America "a safe haven for businesses resulting in an explosion in revenue increases."
Those opposed to Gohmert's plan point to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's analysis, which called cutting the corporate tax rate "not a particularly cost-effective method of stimulating business spending."
In an interview with the conservative website Newsmax this week, Gohmert suggested Mr. Obama's bill should be renamed something like "The Save Obama's Job Act." He railed against a provision of Mr. Obama's bill that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against unemployed job applicants, arguing it would only cause more lawsuits.
Incidentally, Mr. Obama and Gohmert aren't the only lawmakers fond of that patriotic bill name -- several other members of Congress have introduced bills this year with similar names. For instance, there's Rep. Charles Boustany's "American Job Protection Act," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's "New Jobs for America Act," and Rep. Betty Sutton's "Keep American Jobs from Going Down the Drain Act" (which would require the use of American materials to repair public water systems).
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Diplomacy is the most important factor concerning International Sovereignty . Relationships with our allies supports our strong diplomatic strength. Economic sanctions with adverse manipulation of assets are the next important responses. Embargo restricting passage of vessels or restrictions of trade is our best choice before military action is used.
Military raw power is not a choice that the American Voters want. America should not be known as the war monger country. Military acts of aggression should not be the American way.
America has resorted to force too quickly and hastily before exhausting all other techniques of diplomacy.
America has to retrain its military to be only a back up measure to never be used as a first response unless our future is being threatened. Our military should never be used to fight another countries battles unless there is a threat against our future with our equal allies.
What has evolved to our civility and our strong bonding with our allies?
America is running scared with the explicit threat of force not just with other countries but also with putting good citizens in jail without evaluating domestic diplomacy that will resolve 95% of the victimless crimes.
Do we really need to build more jails is that what our country has become a big baby sitter for degenerates?
Sophisticated diplomacy both at home and abroad is always the best solution with the best results. America needs to turn over a new leaf how to deal with issues without using aggression as a first choice.
America is too civilized to resort to Caveman Principals of governing domestically or internationally. Military expenditure is our last resort to maintain civility between world powers.
Resolving issues after military force is used is the most costly and never ending response prohibiting the use of force.
Let's put our perspectives back in order before we become the war mongers of the world. Cut our military down to a reasonable level that is under control and not effecting our productivity or our budget. America does not live to expand the military if so then we are doomed by our own devices.
Do we really want 4 more years of this?
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Taxes and over regulation didn't cause this problem. There were plenty of jobs until Bush and co. bankrupted this country. Are corporations going to pass along the tax breaks in the form of higher wages? More jobs? I think not. Profits and patriotism don't always go hand in hand. There's no new demand for goods because everyone is paying $3.80 a gallon for gas (thanks to all those patriotic oil companies who are making billions in profits) and paying off a mortgage on a worthless home. Businesses know this and that's why they're not hiring. This other stuff is just to pad the bottom line.
These guys are just doing what Rahm always suggested . . . they're not letting a good crisis go to waste.
Poll Date Sample Approve Disapprove Spread
RCP Average 8/27 - 9/14 -- 44.0 51.0 -7.0
Gallup 9/12 - 9/14 1500 A 39 53 -14
Rasmussen Reports 9/12 - 9/14 1500 LV 46 53 -7
CNN/Opinion Research 9/9 - 9/11 1038 A 43 55 -12
Bloomberg 9/9 - 9/12 997 A 45 49 -4
Reuters/Ipsos 9/8 - 9/12 1134 A 47 48 -1
ABC News/Wash Post 8/29 - 9/1 1001 A 43 53 -10
Politico/GWU/Battleground 8/28 - 9/1 1000 LV 45 50 -5
FOX News 8/29 - 8/31 911 RV 44 47 -3
NBC News/Wall St. Jrnl 8/27 - 8/31 1000 A 44 51 -7
President Obama is in political trouble. We now see through his crap and understand his game. We are not buying his massive federal deficit spending crap anymore.
The US has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. In this global economy, it makes more sense to drop loopholes and drop the corporate tax rates, than it does to blow another $450 billion of the public's money.
Obama is creating more government jobs "again" it did not work the last time. And I'm curious about who is going to pay for all those extra government jobs after this 450 billion is used up in a couple of years. Is Obama going to continue over taxing the wealthy. Were in this mess partially because of to much government.
The plan states that an employer will get a tax credit if they hire a 1yr to 6 month unemployed person but does not state how long the employer has to keep a newly unemployed person in order to get that tax credit. there could be another bank incident with those bailouts, the government did not make stipulations in order to get bush's bailout. like they must make loans and help with foreclosures they assumed the banks would but since the government did not state it the banks took advantage of the bailouts and did not help. A lot of The employers will do the same thing take advantage, it is human nature. hire then fire, hire then fire then collect tax credit. win for them lose for the unemployed. Obama needs to put stipulation in his plan.
And how many of those businesses gross above $200,k are going to layoff/fire people to make up there loses from that $450 billion tax hike there going to get that is helping to pay for this. A lot, again human nature.
More importantly this bill leads to bigger piles of unused money at corporate feet (not invested in Americanjobs) and bigger deficits.
Does not the moron know that is exactly what led to the problem? Does he not remember the $trillion Bush tax cuts for the rich in 2001 that did nothing but cause the depression? Or how relaxing bank oversight lead to the Bankster disaster in 2008?
September 14, 2011,
Billions in Unemployment Benefits Paid in Error.
Nearly $19 billion in state unemployment benefits were paid in error during the three years that ended in June, new Labor Department data show.
This was a stimulus program fool! Unemployment is the best way to improve the economy because all the money is spent!