U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush, D-1st, and Jesse Jackson Jr., D-2nd, broke ranks with President Barak Obama and Congressional leadership Thursday on legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break, complaining that the bill doesn&r
U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush, D-1st, and Jesse Jackson Jr., D-2nd, broke ranks with President Barak Obama and Congressional leadership Thursday on legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break, complaining that the bill doesn’t do enough to produce much-needed jobs. The measure passed 217-201 on a mostly party-line vote. The bill also extends federal highway programs through the end of the year. Some Democrats feel the approximately $35 billion jobs bill is too puny, while others say the tax cut for new hires will not generate many new jobs. However, the pressure is on to address jobs and deliver a badly needed win for Obama and a Democratic Party struggling in opinion polls and facing major losses in the upcoming November elections. Further jobs measures are promised. Rush, who voted against the bill, said the legislation falls short of improving job outlook for too many Americans. “Despite some of the merits of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, I could not, in good conscience, vote for this bill … because its provisions fail to do the heavy lifting to provide a hand up for chronically unemployed Americans,” said Rush. “The people I serve in my district are hardworking and ready to work. They need opportunities and, in some cases, access to increased resources through appropriate federal agencies,” he said in a statement to the Defender. “The hand that’s extended in this legislation, for the most part, takes the form of tax cuts for businesses that ought to be doing the right thing in the first place. How many tax cuts do they need before they’ll hire?” The congressmen said they were looking out for the employment welfare of all Americans, but could not ignore the abject joblessness in the Black community and particularly among their own constituency. “At a time when the African American community’s unemployment rate hovers in the range of 17 percent, I cannot go back to them, look them in the eye and tell them ‘I got big business a tax cut today’ and simply walk away in the hopes that they’ll be hired. They won’t!” Rush said. “What I will do in the coming days is to propose legislation that seeks to expand our nation’s economic engine where it matters most-within the ranks of our innovative, small and minority-owned businesses. I believe strongly that if we shore up small businesses, especially now at a time when green jobs and continued changes in technology and e-commerce continue to spark new innovations, a new, aggressive crop of visionary entrepreneurs will take root in local communities. They’ll look at the faces of the hard working men, women and young adults that I know and see them as part of America’s promise for the future,” the congressman added. Likewise, Jackson voted against the legislation saying the $15 billion jobs bill is “too meager and too modest at a time when the needs of our country are too great.” “As I travel across my district, my constituents continue to express deep concern about our country’s steep and sustained economic downturn,” Jackson said in a statement to the Defender. ”They want their elected officials in Washington to focus on turning around our economy and creating more jobs. “Unfortunately, this bill does not meet the urgency or magnitude of the moment,” the statement continued. “It does not provide the kind of timely, targeted and temporary investment that will create millions of jobs and put the American people back to work. It provides tax incentives to companies, not jobs in the country. “To address our 10 percent unemployment rate, Congress must adopt a more comprehensive, robust and balanced measure that creates jobs. That’s what the American people are waiting and hoping for.” Other members of the Congressional Black Caucus balked at the HIRE legislation as well. “It’s really not a jobs bill,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and head of the CBC. “It’s one small piece.” Lee said she instead wants money in the legislation for job training and youth summer jobs. The House had passed a much larger measure in December that contained almost $50 billion in infrastructure funding, $50 billion in help for cash-starved state governments, and a six-month extension of jobless aid. That bill conspicuously left out the proposals to award tax credits for hiring new workers. The Senate responded with the far smaller measure that the House is reluctantly accepting. The House amended the measure Thursday to conform with so-called pay-as-you-go budget rules that have become an article of faith among moderate Democrats. The rules require future spending increases or tax cuts to be paid for with either cuts to other programs or equivalent tax increases. The minor tweak means that the notoriously balky Senate would have to act again before Obama could sign the bill into law. The Associated Press contributed to this report
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