Reid's New Jobs Bill Faces Backlash
The message that they need is that we're doing something about jobs," he told reporters today. "We don't have a jobs bill, we have a jobs agenda. We're going to move forward on that jobs agenda."
Reid may have to get that message across to the rest of Congress before he can to the American people, however.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican who along with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus crafted the initial jobs bill, said Reid was "pulling the rug out" from bipartisan efforts, the Hill reports.
"Senator Reid's announcement sends a message that he wants to go partisan and blame Republicans when Senator Grassley and others were trying to find common ground on solutions to help get the economy back on track and people back to work," said Jill Kozeny, a spokesperson for Grassley.
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) said Reid's decision was "surprising."
"This is not how you legislate in the United States Senate and demonstrates a tremendous arrogance of power by this Democrat majority," he said in a statement.
Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa) also expressed reservations about the new plan, according to Politico.
"[Reid's] trying to keep it simple," Harkin said, "but what I think ought to be in the package is unemployment insurance for one year."
Republicans in the House also took the opportunity to knock Reid for his decision. The office of Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) is referring to the new bill as the "Reid scraps bill."
Still, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today at the White House press briefing, "I think that the legislation that Senator Reid will move when the Senate comes back into town will garner bipartisan support."