In the hours leading up to President Obama’s big speech to Congress on how he plans to create jobs, a Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said he wasn’t very optimistic that the proposal would include the kind of initiatives he believed would create the most jobs.
Leaving the House chamber immediately after the speech Thursday night, Thune said Obama said nothing that changed his mind.
“I think it’s more of the same,” Thune said. “Kind of a stimulus part two, for the most part.”
Republicans have warned for days that they would not be receptive to additional proposals from Obama that would mirror the nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill passed in 2009. Republicans believe that package did nothing to create jobs and only deepened the nation’s massive debt.
But with the unemployment hovering above 9 percent and the threat of a second recession lurking, Obama is pinning his hopes on getting support from Republicans for a $450 billion package by including incentives for which they have clamored, like passing several free trade agreements and cost-saving changes to Medicare and Medicaid.
“There were a lot of things that sounded really good tonight,” said Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a freshman Republican from Tennessee.
But DesJarlais also said he wanted to see how Obama would pay for the package of tax cuts and new spending.
“So far on that, it sounds like it would be paid for with the ‘spreading the wealth’ concept,” he said.
Still, DesJarlais said he might be able to back some of Obama’s targeted tax increases.
“I think we need to close loopholes and make sure big companies are paying their fair share,” DesJarlais said. “That’s something I’ve been for all along.”
DesJarlais represents a smattering of Republicans in the House and Senate who might be open to compromise on a jobs plan. But for the most part, GOP conservatives will likely reject Obama’s proposal as too costly.
“President Obama says he understands there is a jobs crisis in America but he believes it is because Washington is not doing enough spending, taxing and regulating,” said Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, who heads conservative House Republican Policy Committee. “This reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of government and a complete misreading of the facts on the ground which clearly demonstrate that Washington is what is holding this economy.
Obama will have no trouble winning the support of the liberal faction of Democrats because his proposal includes many of the initiatives on their wish lists.
“He laid out an agenda to create jobs to put money in people’s pockets who actually go out and spend it and have to be the job creators,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. “I thought it was wonderful.”
