“Pass It Right Away”
September 9th, 2011
You won’t want to wait another day until you try the new improved American Jobs Act
Well, we missed on our earlier forecast of the cost of the President jobs act by a significant amount, but the substance was more or less as predicted. And now the President has left it to the super (duper) committee to figure out how to pay for the plan.
The proposal includes some $250 billion in tax incentives for small businesses, the rest of the money invested in infrastructure programs, state aid, an extension of unemployment insurance, and neighborhood development projects. The congressional super committee will be tasked with finding a means to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion in order to pay for the plan without incurring additional debt.
“I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away,” he said. “There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans — including many who sit here tonight. And everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything.”
It’s a good thing the President was not wearing a bowler hat, striped shirt and plaid pants when he delivered this sales pitch. Could it be that he wants to wrap the thing up “right away” so he can quickly burnish his credentials well in advance of the general election? (The question is rhetorical, of course).
We stick by our previous assertion that any such plan was doomed the moment it came out of the President’s mouth. It will be the first and possibly last act of deliberation of the already ill-fated super committee. I love Patty Murray, but I’m afraid the good Senator from the State of Washington just sank her own bid for re-election. Appointed to the catbird seat on the new committee, she’s been forcibly removed from the fence she’s been sitting on comfortably and straddling so easily all these years.
The American Jobs Act will be the first and last bit of business to be undertaken by the super committee. It and they are doomed, instantly leaving twelve seats in the Congress and the Senate as good as up for grabs.
Such a grand experiment. Such hope. Such a disappointment. It couldn’t have happened to a more bipartisan group.
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