Republicans Are Out Of Excuses

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced The HIRE Act, legislation focused on immediate job creation. Speaking about the larger jobs agenda, Sen. Jack Reed today told a group of reporters on a conference call today that this bill "is a positive first step." 

Despite strong bipartisan support for each provision in this bill, there are reports that Republicans are holding backroom strategy sessions with lobbyists to figure out how to block this proposal from even reaching the floor for a debate. As Steve Benen from the Washington Monthly noted, "The GOP's willingness to reject the ideas they support continues to be almost impressive in its scope."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, for example, worked with Sen. Chuck Schumer to include a payroll tax break for new hires in The Hire Act. Despite the fact that this measure is one of the four key provisions included in the final bill, Hatch has declared his opposition to this legislation. "His comments are puzzling at best," Reid spokesman Jim Manley told the Wall Street Journal. "After all, his payroll tax exemption is a key part of our package. There is simply no reason, except maybe for political reasons, that this slimmed-down bill focusing specifically on job creation shouldn't pass with overwhelming bipartisan support."

Republicans seem to be more interested in securing deals for their lobbyist friends than passing legislation that will put more Americans back to work. 

The bottom line is that there is no excuse for any senator who claims to be committed to bipartisanship, curbing excessive spending and creating jobs to vote against a fully paid-for, bipartisan job creation bill.

And yet, Republicans are never without an excuse.