Boehner Called out on “Do-Nothing” Congress. “Jobs” Plan is exactly what you think it is… and less.
January 23, 2012

 
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Boehner's Jobs PamphletWhen will these people figure out they’re not fooling anyone? Speaker of the House John Boehner appeared on Fox “news” Sunday yesterday and received (what qualifies as) sharp criticism from host Chris Wallace on the abysmal record of this “Do-Nothing Congress”:
 

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Right off the bat he starts with a lie: “It’s the presidents policies that have made our economy worse.” Actually, our economy has improved since unemployment hit it’s peak of 10.0% in October of 2009. And despite unprecedented obstruction by a record number of GOP filibusters in the Senate, followed by repeated nuclear brinksmanship in the House since the GOP took it over last year, unemployment is currently down to 8.5%. I remind you that in Bush’s final year in office, as Wall Street collapsed and the Big Three automakers went to Washington looking for a bailout, unemployment SOARED almost THREE FULL PERCENTAGE POINTS IN ELEVEN MONTHS from 4.9% to 7.8% (ibid). That number continued to climb two more full points to 10.0% by October (FIVE FULL POINTS in 20 months) before the Obama White House stopped the bleeding with The Stimulus. On what planet has Obama “made our economy worse”?

So I see Boehner holding up this “jobs plan” pamphlet to Wallace to demonstrate that The House “has passed over 30 jobs bills” that would create jobs and revive our economy. Curious what those “30 jobs bills” might be, I Googled the pamphlet (pdf) to see for myself.

First off, the obvious: the GOP’s entire “Jobs Bill” can be summed up in a pamphlet??? Maybe they used really tiny type and packed it full of text? Nope.

Imagine my (lack of) surprise to find out The House Jobs Plan does NOT list Boehner’s “30 jobs bills”. Boehner’s pamphlet is only 10 pages long (including cover), and every other page is half taken up by a giant illustration. And… of course… surprise, surprise… it’s almost all calls for more tax cuts, deregulation, and “Drill Baby, dill!”… oh, and page six calls on President Obama to sign a Trade Deal with “Columbia, Panama and South Korea that President Obama already signed into law last October. Apparently, the GOP either couldn’t be bothered to update their “Jobs” pamphlet since October, or they were afraid to make the pamphlet even smaller by cutting out the now outdated text. (Now I just KNOW I reported on this before, but damned if I can’t find it.)

So just what exactly ARE those “30 jobs bills passed by the House” that Speaker Boehner suggests would start to “create jobs and revive the economy” tomorrow? Speaker Boehner’s website directs readers to this list on Eric Cantor’s website. The first thing you’ll notice is the list is 36 bills long, not 30, so I can’t be entirely sure which of these are the “30 jobs bills” Boehner was referring to, but at least three have already passed, and #36 is not an issue-bill at all but an entire budget:

    Deregulation:
     

  1. H.Res. 72 – Review of Federal Regulations – Taking an inventory of all existing Regulations, but not changing anything.
  2. H.R. 872 – Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act
  3. H.R. 910 – Energy Tax Prevention Act
  4. H.J.Res. 37 – Disapproval of FCC’s Net Neutrality Regulations
  5. H.R. 2018 – Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act
  6. H.R. 1315 – Consumer Financial Protection & Soundness Improvement Act – Amend Dodd/Frank
  7. H.R. 2587 – Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act
  8. H.R. 2401 – Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on The Nation – Yes, they call this a “jobs” bill.
  9. H.R. 2681 – Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act
  10. H.R. 2250 – EPA Regulatory Relief Act
  11. H.R. 2273 – Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act
  12. H.R. 3094 – Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act – An anti-Union bill
  13. H.R. 3010 – Regulatory Accountability Act
  14. H.R. 527 – Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act
  15. H.R. 10 – REINS Act – The “Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act” of 2011
  16. H.R. 1633 – Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act
  17.  
    Tax cuts & loopholes:

  18. H.R. 4 – Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act – Renamed the “Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011”.
  19. H.R. 674 – 3% Withholding Rule Repeal – Repeal a 1986 3% Withholding tax on government contractors.
  20. H.R. 3630 – Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act – Renamed the “Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011”. Yep, a call to extend the payroll tax cut.
  21.  
    Four Free Trade Agreements (three of which have already been signed into law)

  22. H.R. 3078 – U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act – Signed into law last Oct.
  23. H.R. 3079 – U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act – Signed into law last Oct.
  24. H.R. 3080 – U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act – Signed into law last Oct.
  25. H.R. 1904 – Southeast Arizona Resource Utilization & Conservation Act – Open public land to private mining.
  26.  
    Loans to Small Business

  27. H.R. 1249 – The America Invents Act – Patent Reform
  28. H.R. 2433 – Veterans Opportunity to Work Act
  29. H.R. 1070 – Small Company Capital Formation Act
  30. H.R. 1965 – Small Banks’ Access to Capital Act – Shareholder registration
  31. H.R. 2930 – Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act
  32. H.R. 2940 – Access to Capital for Job Creators Act – Deregulating the sales of certain Securities.
  33. H.R. 3012 – Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act
  34.  
    Drill Baby, drill!

  35. H.R. 1230 – Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act
  36. H.R. 1229 – Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act
  37. H.R. 1231 – Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act
  38. H.R. 2021 – Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011
  39. H.R. 1938 – North American-Made Energy Security Act – Keystone
  40.  
    And The Debt

  41. H.Con.Res. 34 – Budget for Fiscal Year 2012

I plan on going through these one-by-one at a later date, but it is difficult to see how still MORE tax cuts and deregulation will suddenly spur job growth any better than the Bush Tax Cuts and deregulation insanity of the past decade failed to do in eleven years. And the “Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act”? That’s among your 30 best “job creation” ideas? We already know three of the “Free Trade Agreements (20, 21 & 22) were already passed last year, and I’m CERTAIN that when I look into it, I’ll find several more of these bills have either already been signed into law or are being obstructed by Senate Republicans, not Democrats.

Oh, and it might interest you to know that while Speaker Boehner is accusing President Obama of obstructing Congress, Boehner himself suggested yesterday that he may hold extension of the Payroll Tax Cut Extension hostage (I refer you back to #19 above) over approval of the Keystone XL pipeline (which is NOT a serious job creator, would do NOTHING to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, would be CATASTROPHIC for the environment and would actually INCREASE gas prices here at home as we cut into our own refinery capacity to refine tarsands crude into diesel fuel for export… further depressing our economy and costing still more jobs.)

This is your “very serious Republican” alternative to President Obama.

(ADDENDUM: Karoli of Crooks & Liars has produced a more in-depth review of these bills than I’ve had time for myself. Worth checking out.)
 


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January 23, 2012 · Admin Mugsy · One Comment - Add
Posted in: Economy, Jobs, myth busting, Politics

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  1. Boehner Called out on “Do-Nothing” Congress. “Jobs … | Boner Plan | Boner Plan - January 23, 2012

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