Vote on the Jobs Bill

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, for the past 3 weeks President Obama has been racing around the country trying to rally public support for a second stimulus bill and demanding that Congress pass it right away. The President has not been demanding that Congress debate the bill or be allowed to amend the bill. He has demanded in no uncertain terms that we hold a vote on the bill as it is, right away.

A couple weeks ago in Denver, the President said he has the pens all ready, lined up on his desk, ready to sign the bill into law. Just yesterday in Texas, he called on Congress to put the bill up for a vote so the entire country knows exactly where every Member of Congress stands. One of the President's top advisers, David Axelrod, summed up the President's position this way: ``We want them to act now on this package,'' David Axelrod said. ``We're not in negotiations to break up the package. It's not an a la carte menu.''

So yesterday I tested the President's rhetoric. I proposed that we do exactly what he wants and vote right away on this second stimulus bill he has proposed as the supposed solution to our jobs crisis. And the Democrats blocked it. In other words, the President's own party is the only obstacle to having a vote on his so-called jobs bill. Now I understand our Democratic friends want to jettison entire parts of the bill altogether, not to make it more effective at growing jobs, not to grow bipartisan support. No, they want to overhaul the bill to sharpen its political edge. So my suggestion to the White House is that if the President wants to keep traveling around the country demanding a vote on this second stimulus, he focus his criticism on Democrats, not Republicans, because they are the ones who are now standing in the way of an immediate vote on this legislation.

But, of course, the President knew as well as I did that many Democrats in Congress do not like the bill any more than Republicans do. Despite his rhetoric, he knew Republicans were not the only obstacle, which means one thing: The President is not engaged right now in a good-faith effort to spur the economy or create jobs through legislation. He is engaged in a reelection campaign. By the way, the election is not until 14 months from now.

Madam President, 1.7 million Americans have lost jobs since the President signed his first stimulus, and his idea of a solution is to propose another one. Even Democrats know it is a nonstarter, which is why so many of them do not want to have to vote for it. That is what we all witnessed here in the Senate yesterday.

It is time the President put an end to this charade. Stop campaigning for a bill written in a way to guarantee it will not pass and work with us on the kind of job-creating legislation both parties can agree on, things such as the trade bills, rolling back overburdensome regulations, domestic energy production, and tax reform. Republicans are ready to act on any and all of those issues.

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