Standing before a varied assembly of American workers from the public and private sectors, President Barack Obama announced Monday morning that he is now sending the text of the “American Jobs Act” to Congress.
Waving a copy of the bill in his left hand, he urged Congress to pass it “immediately,” and also asked the public to press for its swift passage.
“Instead of just talking about America’s jobs creators, let’s actually do something for America’s jobs creators,” Obama said. He reiterated several ideas from his Thursday address to the joint session of Congress, including urging an extension of the payroll tax cut; incentivizing a kind of private-public partnership for getting “millions” of construction workers fixing up America’s infrastructure; and also repeating his claim that the plan is “fully paid for,” saying “it’s not going to add a dime to the deficit.”
However, the swift passage the President seeks looks far from assured. Last Friday, House Speaker John Boehner released a letter to the President in which he said, “not all your ideas should be packaged into a single legislative vehicle.” Just after the President’s Monday address, Boehner released a statement saying he will be sending the bill for scoring by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
In addition, Republicans have called for a series of committee hearings on the bill’s potential short and long-term implications. His statement sounded a skeptical note:
“The record of the economic proposals enacted during the last Congress necessitates careful examination of the President’s latest plan as well as consideration of alternative measures that may more effectively support private-sector job creation.”
Obama drew to the end of his Monday address with the words, “There’s no reason not to pass this bill.” We’ll soon find out whether the Congressional Republicans can think of any.
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