House Republicans leaders officially put President Obama on notice — in the kindest language possible — that they don’t intend to accept his marching orders on the jobs bill and take up the entire package all at once.
Instead, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and the rest of the the GOP leadership team, said they’d be much more amendable to the plan if it was offered to them in smaller, separate bites — no doubt so they can push the tax cut provisions for small businesses and jettison the plan’s costliest spending proposals like school renovation and extending unemployment insurance.
“As we are certain your advisors have told you, not all your ideas should be packaged in a single legislative vehicle,” Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and GOP Conference Chairman Jeb Henserling (R-TX) wrote in a letter sent Friday. “For instance, due to the structure of Trade Promotion Authority procedures, passage of the free trade agreements with our allies – Colombia, Panama and South Korea – is better achieved moving as stand-alone legislation. We again ask that you send those agreements immediately to the Congress for our consideration and approval.”
“We share your desire for bipartisan cooperation, and assume that your ideas were not presented as an all-or-nothing proposition, but rather in anticipation that the Congress may also have equally as effective proposals to offer for consideration,” they added.
Boehner and company also requested detailed legislative text of the jobs package that can be scored by the Congressional Budget Office and said they looked forward to the President’s upcoming speech in which he lays out his plans to pay for the stimulus package. In addition, House Republicans informed the White House of their plans to hold a series of committee hearings on the jobs bill and both its short-term and long-term economic growth potential. They will then “identify modifications and additional ideas that could achieve economic and job growth in a manner that may be more impactful or effective.”
“For instance, these ideas could include elements of the multiple bills passed by the House earlier this year to remove government barriers to private-sector job creation that are currently awaiting action in the Senate,” they wrote.
The letter also served as a reminder that Republicans have their own jobs agenda, which focuses primarily on ending a series of pending Obama administration regulations, which they argue are overly burdensome to businesses and hampering job creation.
“In addition, the House will continue with the jobs agenda outlined last month which among other things would provide relief to our nation’s job creators – especially small businesses – from the high costs of some of your Administration’s pending regulatory actions,” they said.
The letter was laced with polite language thanking Obama for presenting his ideas and his speech to Congress, as well as pledges to work to find common ground on steps to spur the economy and create jobs. But it also made clear Republicans’ intention to oppose many elements of the President’s package and fight back against his use of the bully pulpit to control the debate.
“We share your desire for bipartisan cooperation, and assume that your ideas were not presented as an all-or-nothing proposition, but rather in anticipation that the Congress may also have equally as effective proposals to offer for consideration,” they wrote. “The American people expect us to bring together the best of both parties’ ideas, and it is our desire to work together to find common ground between your ideas and ours.”
