WASHINGTON (AP) — Stymied by Republicans, Democrats are at a loss as they struggle to help pump up the economy in the run-up to congressional elections in November.
The demise of their jobs-agenda legislation Thursday means that unemployment benefits will phase out for more than 200,000 people a week. Governors who had counted on fresh federal aid will now have to consider a more budget cuts, tax increases and layoffs of state workers.
Senate Democrats cut billions from the bill in an attempt to attract enough Republican votes to overcome a filibuster, a tactic that prevents a vote without support from three-fifths of the 100 senators. But the 57-41 vote fell three votes short of the 60 required, leaving the way forward unclear.
“Democrats have given Republicans every chance to say ‘yes’ to this bill and support economic recovery for our middle class,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. “But they made a choice to say ‘no’ yet again.”
President Barack Obama will keep pressing Congress to pass the bill, his spokesman said. But Democrats haven’t shown they can come up with the votes.
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The setback forced congressional Democrats to settle for a much smaller victory: Congress passed a bill temporarily sparing doctors from a 21 percent cut in payments from the government’s Medicare health care program for the elderly. The measure was sent to Obama for his signature.
The Medicare funding had been a part of the larger bill to provide extended unemployment benefits for laid-off workers and provide states with billions of dollars to avert layoffs. When it became clear Senate Republicans would block the larger bill, Democrats begrudgingly voted for the smaller Medicare fix.
“It is clear that Senate Republicans have no intention of passing any jobs legislation, whether it is tied to physician payments or not,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat.
Congressional Democrats began the year with an aggressive agenda of passing a series of bills designed to create jobs. One has become law, offering tax breaks to companies that hire unemployed workers. Others stalled as lawmakers, after hearing from angry voters, became wary of adding to the national debt, which stands at $13 billion.
“The debt is out of control,” said Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
The rejected bill would have provided $16 billion in new aid to states, preserving the jobs of thousands of state and local government workers and providing what White House officials called an insurance policy against a double-dip recession. It also included dozens of tax breaks sought by business lobbyists and tax increases on domestically produced oil and on investment fund managers.
The legislation had been sharply pared back after weeks of negotiations with Republican moderates Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, but they were not persuaded to support the measure. The latest draft would have added $33 billion to the deficit.
The Medicare bill that passed Thursday would delay cuts in payments to doctors until the end of November — after congressional elections — when lawmakers hope the political climate is better for passing a more permanent, and expensive, solution.
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Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
