Reid Scraps Baucus-Grassley Jobs Bill

by Josh Orton, Thu Feb 11, 2010 at 03:56:22 PM EST

Sounds like we won't bother casting our line into a dry pond:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that he was scrapping a draft of a bipartisan jobs bill proposed by Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), just hours after the deal was announced

...

Reid said the tax extenders “confuse” the bill, and said other provisions called for in the Baucus-Grassley plan would be addressed in later measures. He added that Democrats have decided to make jobs the primary legislative focus for the year. “We don’t have a jobs bill. We have a jobs agenda,” Reid said.

It is unclear what Reid’s plan will mean for Republicans.

Many of the provisions in the Baucus-Grassley proposal, particularly the tax extenders, were seen as key to garnering Republican support.

The Senate Finance Committee, where healthcare reform legislation languished for months last year, had made an attempt at a jobs bill that, according to Congressional Quarterly, includes not only "a tax incentive for hiring; extensions of tax breaks and economic stimulus provisions that have expired or are about to; highway funding; and a provision to head off a cut in Medicare payments to doctors" but also a promise to deliver billions upon billions of dollars in tax cuts for the extremely wealthy in the form of an extension of estate and gift tax cuts.

But Republicans aren't interested in giving Obama anything resembling a win, let alone a bipartisan one. No use pretending.

 

Tags: Max Baucus, Harry Reid (all tags)

Comments

13 Comments

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Reid better be careful

With moves like that, he might just get himself reelected.

I'm curious to see where this goes.

by NoFortunateSon 2010-02-11 04:38PM | 1 recs
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RE: Reid better be careful

reconcilliation?

by vecky 2010-02-12 12:34AM | 0 recs
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Let's hope.

There's no need for a jobs bill not to go that route.

by NoFortunateSon 2010-02-12 01:11AM | 0 recs
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Anyone else get the feeling...

...like someone behind a two-way mirror is saying into a camera: "We secretly switched Harry Reid with a political with spine and heart.  Let's see if anyone notices."

by TheUnknown285 2010-02-11 07:54PM | 0 recs
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RE: Anyone else get the feeling...

I dunno... I was happy but worried after Reid scrapped the SFC bill and put the PO back in the senate bill. But after how that turned out now i'm just worried.

by vecky 2010-02-12 12:48AM | 0 recs
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RE: Anyone else get the feeling...

I'm even more depressed after reading this:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/the-house-gop-making-sense

by vecky 2010-02-12 05:21PM | 0 recs
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Lousy bill

The jobs bill isnt gonan do squat, its just a waste of more money...

by BuckeyeBlogger 2010-02-11 08:56PM | 0 recs
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RE: Lousy bill

Weren't you the one arguing for tax breaks for small businesses to hire people? What changed your mind now?

by vecky 2010-02-12 12:47AM | 0 recs
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Except

Extend unemployment and extend COBRA subsidies. Maybe you're some kind of elite, but for those of us who are victims of the economy, it's the difference between life or death. So just because you don't think it doesn't help you personally, doesn't mean it won't do much.

Also, I do recall you arguing repeatedly for tax breaks for small businesses. Well, they're in there too, sport.

by NoFortunateSon 2010-02-12 01:14AM | 0 recs
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Honestly

I wouldn't mind at all offering tax cuts if they were going to work.  But expert opinion seems close to unanimous that tax incentives for hiring will do nothing other than give breaks to companies that were going to hire anyway (and increasing the deficit at the same time, of course).

This matches up with my common sense as a business owner, actually.  If it's profitable to add an employee, you're going to do it either way, and if it's not, you won't.  Even if you imagine a hypothetical, barely marginal candidate, where the tax break is just enough to put them over the top in terms of profitability, it's unlikely to be worth the hassle just for that minor tax break and no other profits.  Long after the tax break expires, you'll still be stuck with the employee.

Tax cuts can incentivize people to take risks they might not otherwise take.  Hiring a new employee typically isn't a risk in this sense.  You generally know whether you want to add an employee or not.

by Steve M 2010-02-11 10:16PM | 1 recs
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RE: Honestly

I think the tax incentive should work as long as the economy is already on it's recovery trajectory. Companies might then "bring forward" their hiring, accelerating job growth.

But if the economy is still in the doldrums (i.e: demand for goods and services is stagnant) then I agree it will have little effect. I've heard anecdotal evidence that demand has picked up - if not to pre-recession levels yet.

by vecky 2010-02-12 12:52AM | 0 recs
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RE: Honestly

I agree with you, very good point.

by Steve M 2010-02-12 10:22AM | 0 recs
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Tax breaks

I was in favor of tax credits for small business to purchase health care plans for their employees. If I didnt make that clear, that was my mistake. I agree with what Steve M has said about hiring

by BuckeyeBlogger 2010-02-12 10:56AM | 0 recs

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