Senate Republicans blocked President Obama’s jobs package with its extension of the payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance, tax credits for new hires and wage increases, and surtax on millionaires.
The $447 billion American Jobs Act failed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate on Tuesday evening, with its 50-49 margin falling short of the 60 votes needed.
Obama has been campaigning for weeks to push Congress to pass the bill, but he indicated during remarks earlier Tuesday that he would be willing to break up the bill into its "constituent parts" to try to get provisions passed that would appeal to Republicans.
“Tonight’s vote is by no means the end of this fight,” Obama said in a statement after the vote. “In the coming days, members of Congress will have to take a stand on whether they believe we should put teachers, construction workers, police officers and firefighters back on the job.”
Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics with the jobs bill. “It doesn’t seem to matter that this bill won’t pass, or that even if it did pass, American businesses would be stuck with a permanent tax hike," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday. "Forget about all that. What matters most to the Democrats who control the Senate, according to the stories I’ve been reading, is that they have an issue to run on next year. This whole exercise, by their own admission, is a charade that’s meant to give Democrats a political edge in an election that 13 months away."
