Obama’s Jobs Bill Stirs Up Major Controversy

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:15:00 GMT

By Astrid Alonzo, Editor-in-Chief

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It’s no secret that today’s economy is in deep stagnation. About 14 million people are out of work and wages keep dropping. Poverty rates are increasing, but there still might be hope. President Obama has proposed a Jobs Bill that is primarily designed to revive the economy and help provide more jobs. This $447 billion package is made up of tax cuts and new government spending that according to economists could raise economic growth by 1.25 percent and create 1.3 million jobs in 2012. According to the New York Times, since the United States’ economic downfall in 2007, Congress has passed three stimulus bills. One was signed by former President George W. Bush in 2008; another was pushed by Obama as he took office in 2009, and the last was a tax cut and unemployment fund extension agreement reached by Obama and Congressional Republicans in December 2010. Even though Republicans believed the 2009 stimulus was a failure, economists say that it helped prevent more job losses and provided a modest recovery. However, with economic growth coming to a hold in the summer of 2011 and the unemployment rate being ridiculously high, President Obama felt it was time to do something about this. In September, Obama proposed the Jobs Bill, better known as the American Jobs Act through which taxes paid by employees would be cut in half through 2012. This bill also provides money for modernizing schools and repairing roads and bridges. This plan would be paid for by limiting the deductions that can be claimed on the tax returns of wealthier taxpayers. The rest would come from provisions affecting oil and gas companies, hedge funds, and the owners of corporate jets. However, Republicans, who have taken control of the House of Representatives since January 2011, strongly disapprove of this bill calling the measure a “lousy idea” that would play out similarly to the mostly failed 2009 stimulus. Last week, the Jobs Bill fell 60 votes short of what was needed to advance this $447 billion plan to help this stalling economy. Even though the Republicans do not support the American Jobs Act, critics say they have no other ideas to help this stalling economy. According to The Daily Crux, Senate Minority Leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell stated, “If voting against another stimulus is the only way we can get Democrats in Washington to finally abandon this failed approach to job creation, then so be it.” Even Democratic Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska opposed the plan. Tester said that his reason was that he couldn’t support tax gimmicks that did little to create jobs and didn’t address the need for a deficit-cutting plan. Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland said that the sole mission of the Republican Party is to bring down President Obama. She stated, “They’re more worried about making sure Obama loses his job instead of doing the kinds of things so people have their jobs.” Despite all the opposition and commotion, Obama still continues to push forward stating that the vote was “by no means the end of the fight.” He plans to introduce the Jobs Bill piece by piece. However, Obama’s economic reform plans seem to be on hold now since political parties can’t seem to agree on what should be done to lower the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate. Republicans are looking for permanent tax cuts and deregulation, while Obama and congressional Democrats want more federal spending and short-term tax reductions. When asked about her opinion on Obama’s plan, SJHS Government teacher Ms. Conboy stated, “I highly support the rebuilding of the infrastructure because it would provide a tremendous amount of jobs, but I have serious reservations about the rest of the bill.” Ms. Conboy also said that she doesn’t like the fact that this bill won’t go into effect until 2013 and that the she doesn’t feel that this bill will be able to provide for itself. Armando Gil, 25, felt differently about the situation by saying, “Any plan that goes after the richest Americans and corporations to benefit everyone is fine with me.” He feels that Republicans think that by helping corporations, they will help create jobs, “but they’re just pocketing the money and not helping anyone else but themselves,” he said. Unfortunately, the real questions remain, what will happen to our economy? And when is the government really planning to take some serious actions on this matter?