A group of moderate Senate Republicans Monday helped a job creation bill pass a key test vote in the Senate, giving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Democratic lawmakers a desperately needed political victory as they struggle to show voters they are working to fix the nation’s sour economy.
The Senate voted 62-30 to begin debate on the $15 billion bill, which includes a combination of tax incentives and state federal aid aimed at boosting job growth.
Since Democrats no longer control a 60 vote supermajority required to prevent the GOP from blocking legislation, they needed the help of Republicans to start debate on the bill. They got it from five GOP lawmakers, including newcomer Scott Brown, of Massachusetts.
Brown said he wanted the bill to include bigger tax cuts, “but I voted for it because it contains measures that will help put people back to work.”
The other Republicans who voted for the bill were Sens. Kit Bond, of Missouri and George Voinovich of Ohio, who are both retiring, and Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine.
“It was not a tough decision because I think it was the right thing to do,” said Voinovich, who said the legislation will bring $300 million in aide to his struggling state. “We need it. For me it was an easy vote.”
One Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson, of Nebraska, voted against the measure.
The bill’s centerpiece is a bipartisan provision that would exempt private-sector employers from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax if they hire people who have been out of work for at least 60 days. A second component of the bill would qualify small businesses for tax cuts if they make large purchases.
The bill also spends new money — extending funding for the Surface Transportation Act until the end of the year. The act funds road and transit projects and had been regularly extended by the Senate, but for shorter time periods.
The fourth component of the bill is a provision to extend Build America Bonds, which provides rebates and tax credits to issuers and investors of state and local bonds.
Many in the GOP preferred an earlier bipartisan plan that was much more costly but included more extensive tax breaks.
“We had a pretty good thing going,” said Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, referring to the $85 billion bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
Reid, who yanked that bill in favor of his own smaller bill, accused anyone who voted against it of putting politics ahead of people.
“Only in Washington is a $15 billion bill to create and save jobs not enough,” Reid said.
Republicans seemed forgiving of the vote cast by Brown, who campaigned around the Bay State in his GMC pickup, promising voters he would work as an independent to fix the economy.
“Senator Brown ought to vote the way he wants to vote,” Bennett said. “He probably thought about it in his truck.”
