Obama's jobs bill blocked in Senate vote

Obama's jobs bill blocked in Senate vote
By Robert Pear
The New York Times

Posted: 10/12/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 10/12/2011 02:34:57 AM MDT


WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's jobs bill was blocked in the Senate on Tuesday in its first major legislative test, forcing the White House and congressional Democrats to develop plans to revive elements of what the administration had portrayed as the centerpiece of Obama's push to revive a listless economy.

With Republicans united in opposition, joined by three Democrats, the Senate voted 50-49 to open debate on the measure, 10 votes short of the 60 needed to overcome procedural objections. Given Obama's repeated demands, as he traveled the nation in recent weeks, that Congress pass the bill intact, the Senate's vote to block the measure represents a significant setback and comes after leaders of his own party had adjusted the measure to include a surtax on incomes of more than $1 million to round up additional Democratic votes.

Anticipating the defeat earlier Tuesday during a stop in Pittsburgh, Obama acknowledged that he was planning what to do next.

"If they don't pass the whole package, we're going to break it up into different parts," he said, echoing White House officials who have said they would seek to push individual components of the bill that had the best chance for passage.

Obama nonetheless called the vote "a moment of truth for the United States Senate" and assailed Republicans for opposing the legislation when they had supported similar initiatives.

Votes on pieces of the bill could begin later this month, perhaps as early as next week, Senate Democratic aides said. Party leaders said they needed to consult their caucus before they decide on the timing or choose the provisions to be considered separately.

Several Democratic senators said they might join a handful of Republicans in searching for job-creation proposals that could gain bipartisan support — a formidable challenge in a chamber where comity seems to worsen by the week.

House Republican leaders have said they do not intend to take up the president's $447 billion jobs bill as a whole. But they welcomed the signal from the White House that the administration would be open to a piecemeal effort.

The House majority leader, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he hoped "the president will drop his all-or-nothing approach and begin to work with us on areas of commonality," including initiatives that could promote hiring and economic growth.

"We are willing to take up the things we can agree on," Cantor said.

The president's bill is a mix of public-works spending and temporary tax cuts intended to respond to what Obama calls an economic crisis and an emergency.

Senate Democrats tried to make the president's bill more palatable by adding a surtax of 5.6 percent, starting in 2013, on income in excess of $1 million.