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The question is not whether Congress will pass the newly revised jobs bill presented by President Barack Obama but rather, which portions will sail through and which ones are unlikely to make it. Regardless of the outcome, the political wrangling over the bill both in part and in its entirety is already being done in the press with Democrats and Republicans both pointing fingers at one another and assigning the blame.
It was the President who fired first, telling the press that the Republicans had summarily blocked the bill as it was originally written, refusing to even debate it even though there was over sixty percent support for the bill. Senator Mitch McConnell, (KY) the Senate Repulican Leader, countered that President Obama is merely trying to deflect the real attention from the issue at hand, that being the 1.5 million jobs that have been lost since he took office. According to McConnel, it was the Democrats who forced the original bill to be rewritten and it looks to most experts that there is still not enough Democrat support for the bill as it is written for the whole thing to pass through Congress. McConnell also claimed to the press that Obama had been given everything he wanted from a Democratic Congress. In reality, Obama's stimulus package from 2009 included a number of concessions before it would even pass.
The payroll tax cut renewal, expected to cost nearly $180 billion over the next ten years will be expected to pass Congress without a problem, probably right around the time that the original plan will expire. Also expected to pass without a problem is a secondary program meant to give employers a break on their payroll taxes. That program will cost nearly seventy billion dollars. The extension of the unemployment insurance, also set to expire at the end of the year will pass according to experts. This program is budgeted for nearly fifty billion dollars.
However, several other programs that are being pushed by the President are not likely to pass through Congress at all, including programs related to transportation projects, and two meant to improve schools. Obama has stated that he wants to give the states thirty five billion dollars to hire more teachers and first responders, in addition, he has asked for thirty billion dollars to modernize schools across the nation.
A sur tax on millionaires in the US would have paid for all of the programs he is requesting but the Republicans have already said that they will not pass a tax increase.
Obama is currently traveling across the nation discussing the jobs plan, talking to states where unemployment has increased dramatically since he took office.
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