When Congress convened in January, Democrats pledged they would put the economy and job creation at the top of the agenda. But nearly halfway through the session, lawmakers have managed to pass only one bill aimed solely at boosting economic growth, an $18 billion measure comprised of tax cuts and road construction funding.
“Congress is focusing on what the American people want us to focus on, which is jobs, jobs, jobs,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor.
But some of his constituents aren’t seeing it that way, as jobless claims climbed last week and the unemployment rate hovers at 9.7 percent.
“It doesn’t seem like they are nailing themselves down to job creation,” said. Bruce Bellwood, who owns a lighting store in Rochester, N.Y. Bellwood said his business has been hit hard in recent months as new construction dried up and fewer builders need to buy lighting fixtures.
“Health care, it seems, is all it has been,” said Bellwood, whose family has owned and operated Tuthill Lighting for 86 years. “At a time when the national economy is where it’s at, it is very surprising that they would take on the health care issue.”
Democratic lawmakers insist they are tackling the job crisis, even as they push forward other, unrelated parts of their agenda. Democrats promoted the recently passed health care bill as a measure that would add jobs to the economy and they relabeled the Senate global warming and energy bill the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
The climate bill’s main sponsor, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has insisted in recent weeks that the bill’s focus will be to create green jobs, despite warnings by critics that it will eliminate far more by raising energy rates and imposing a fuel tax.
Kerry added “jobs” to the title of his bill shortly after the election of his new Senate colleague, Scott Brown, a Republican whose come-from-behind victory in January resulted in part from promising voters he would get to work on the economy. Kerry seems to have heard the message from Bay State voters. On his Web site, he lists “A Strong Economy” as his No. 1 issue and “energy costs” below it. Buried at No. 16 on his list is “protecting the environment.”
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has been desperate to claim credit for job creation as his poll numbers weaken and unemployment in his state remains at 13.7 percent. Reid wrote the $18 billion measure after chucking out a much larger bill written by two other senators that would been tougher to pass. And Reid pushed for the recent passage of a tourism bill that he claims will create 40,000 jobs, many of them in Nevada.
“They’ve slapped the label ‘jobs bill’ on basically everything,” said James Sherk, senior policy analyst in labor economics at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Bill Scher, the executive editor of the blog LiberalOasis, said the problem lies with the Senate, where neither party has been willing to pass bigger, high-cost legislation aimed at putting the nation’s 8 million unemployed people back to work.
“So you are left with a bunch of small-bore legislation that nibbles at the problem so that you maintain a stream of news stories that Congress is doing something, and hasn’t forgotten about the issue.”
Jobs bills passed by Congress this year
>>The $18 billion HIRE Act — Exempts 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 and qualifies small businesses for tax cuts if they make large purchases. Funds federal road projects until December.
Labeled by Congress as jobs legislation
>>Health care overhaul — Mandates health insurance coverage, provides tax credits for businesses to provide health care, subsidizes health care for millions and raises taxes.
>>Global warming and energy bill — Aims to reduce carbon emissions and expand alternative energy, creating green jobs. Would also expand drilling.
>>Travel Promotion Act — Charges many international visitors a $10 fee that will be used to fund a new national tourism board aimed at attracting visitors to the United States.
>>Short-term extension of unemployment benefits health insurance subsidies.
>>A Senate-passed $34.5 billion Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization — Modernizes the nation’s air traffic control system.
