JOBS SPEECH: Inland lawmakers cool to Obama plan
10:56 PM PDT on Thursday, September 8, 2011
WASHINGTON - Inland Southern California's Republican House members panned President Barack Obama's job-creation initiative Thursday night, describing the $447 billion proposal as the latest in a series of costly economic stimulus initiatives that have failed to end the nation's unemployment crisis.
The cool reception from area Republicans underscores the difficult road ahead for Obama's plan to lower the country's 9.1 percent jobless rate through a combination of tax relief, extended unemployment benefits and an injection of federal infrastructure spending.
Republicans, who hold House's majority, favor an approach that would tackle the $14.7 trillion national deficit by slashing spending, and would spark hiring by cutting federal regulations that they contend are making it hard for companies to do business.
"$447 billion is real money; it's a second stimulus," said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, referring to 2009's $787 billion American Recovery Act. "He's not going to get everything he wants."
While Obama maintained that the spending in his plan would be paid for, Calvert's sentiments appeared to be shared by most Republicans. They stood to applaud only a handful of times as Obama laid out his plan to a joint session ofCongress , in contrast to Democrats, who cheered throughout the 40-minute address.
Rep. Joe Baca, the Inland region's only Democratic House member, said the newly unveiled American Jobs Act would devote billions of dollars to fixing a host of problems that have hit the country as a whole, and Inland Southern California in particular including, home foreclosures, crumbling roads, bridges and schools and, most importantly, unemployment.
"There was a time when people had jobs and people felt good about going to work; he's trying to get us back to that," said Baca, D-Rialto. "He clearly outlined a plan to put our people back to work."
The Inland unemployment rate is much higher than the national average at 15.1 percent in Riverside County and 14.3 percent in San Bernardino County.
The centerpiece of the proposal, $140 billion for infrastructure and transportation projects, has, at least in theory, support from some Republicans who wanted to see more of that kind of spending in the original stimulus bill.
Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, said he was among those disappointed by the 2009 legislation and predicted Obama's new plan would have a difficult time passing the House unless "99 percent or more" of the cost were spent on transportation and infrastructure projects.
If the plan involves anything less, "somebody is nuts or smoking something,"Lewis said.
He said even popular infrastructure projects are regularly stymied by environmental red tape, and repeated that relaxed regulations would work better than increased spending.
Reps. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs , and Darrell Issa, R-Vista, also expressed disappointment in Obama's address in statements issued late Thursday.
Obama defended the bill's price tag. He said the legislation would revise targets of the new congressional deficit-reduction panel known as the "super committee," which is now tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions by later this year. Under his plan, the committee would have to increase that amount to $1.95 trillion to offset the jobs bill's cost.
Calvert said that idea amounts to "anteing up" on the committee's already difficult work, and lamented the ideological differences between the two parties.
"We're all interested in getting the economy moving again," he said. "Certainly the Inland Empire hasn't come out of the recession."
1 comment:
BS RANCH PERSPECTIVE:
It seems that Joe Baca cannot figure out what side of the ticket he is supposed to be on. I can say this. If "Working" Joe Baca, would stop and read the limitations of the Tax Breaks, and the Limitations reference all the benefits to businesses here, he would have a second thought about this job bill.. All the things in this bill that might make a difference, to Small Businesses, all Expire after the first year.. so any and all tax breaks will help the first year, but then we go straight back to where we are right now in one year.
I don't know about you, but what is happening right now in the Business world is not working.. so Why Obama thinks that after one year the TAX Breaks going back to what they are now, all that will do is schedule a whole gob of lay off's so that the Small Businessman can pay those taxes that they were relieved of the whole year prior!!
Obama's Job's bill is just a Political took to make the Economic Numbers get better for the first six months to a year, all so that we will like him better for the upcoming Election!! Now once this so called "Jobs Bill" is passed, the numbers get better Obama takes the credit, then one year later the taxes return to what they are now, Jobs decrease.. but meanwhile the Democrats that learned to hate Obama will suddenly like him again, because the Economic numbers are better, the jobs bill will have proven to be a success for only the first year.. but that is all that Barrack Hussein Obama needs to get closer to a Reelection for his second term as President..
Look I don't care, Democrat or Republican, I am a Conservative American, but I am so disenfranchised from my own political Party that I am not on either side, Unless they do something that is closer to what I like..
One thing that needs to be done is to Revamp the TAX CODE.. Ether the Federal Government needs to change over to a Flat Tax and get away from the Federal TAX CODE as it is written now!! I mean the way that it is now, can be interpreted several different ways by any CPA!!
The time has come to see through the Temporary Bills that are designed to make a President More Popular before an Election Date, the numbers that would be made better would not last long.. Taxes will have ended that fun!!
Obama's Jobs Bill is BAD LEGISLATION!! or known as a Temporary Fix to a tragic Problem.. The Fix will last less then one year, or as soon as those Tax Benefits Reverse themselves then the jobs will recover to the numbers that they are now.. Unemployment will return to where it is now.. or maybe even worse!!
The JOBS BILL A FAILURE!!
BS Ranch
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