Today on the Website for the Campaign for America’s Future, Bill Scher published a list of 25 current senators who voted for the boondoggle-rich “Bridge to Nowhere” transportation bill in 2005  while voting against President Obama’s much less expensive infrastructure bill last week. In other words, they had no problem voting for frivolous spending six years ago, but now they can’t bring themselves to vote to respond to pressing infrastructure needs while creating desperately needed jobs in the process.  

You’ll not be surprised to learn that all but two of these humbugs, Nebraska’s Ben Nelson and Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman (who else, right?), are Republicans. Further, as Steve Benen notes, there are some malefactors who deserve the opprobrium due to this select group, but escape due to a technicality:

… some House members – Missouri’s Roy Blunt, for example – voted for the 2005 bill as House members, and have since been promoted to the Senate.

So I guess we can count Roy Blunt among the lawmakers that Scher designates as “champions of hypocrisy … the people who are standing in the way.”

An article in The Hill today details the subterfuges of the Democratic quislings who seem to want to go bat for the Republican election effort next year by voting “no” on the President’s jobs bill. The list includes most of the usual suspects – with one wonderful exception:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), another election-year target who has attempted to distance herself from Obama, has spoken favorably of the bill. Her office did not respond to questions on Monday, but on Tuesday said she would vote for it.

Looks like McCaskill’s been paying attention. As Greg Sergent reports, pollster Stanley Greenberg contends that not only is it important, politically speaking, for Democrats to attempt to to draw a distinction between themselves and Republicans with this vote, but that Democrats who shy away from doing the right thing could be undercutting themselves as well as the President:

“They reduce their risks for reelection by showing support for a jobs bill that’s going to be increasingly popular as voters learn more about it,” Greenberg said. “They have to be for something on the economy, and this the kind of proposal they should support. If I were advising them, I’d say you want to be backing a jobs bill with middle class tax cuts paid for by tax hikes on millionaires. Moderate voters in these states very much want to raise taxes on the wealthy to meet our obligations.”

But now is not the time to let up on the pressure on McCasilll. Keep those letters and phone calls coming; let our Democratic Senator know how important we think this jobs plan is and how enthusiastic we will be about those Missouri politicians who support it.

UPDATE:  After last night’s vote, don’t forget to call Senator McCaskill and thank her for standing with the real Democrats yesterday. The President’s bill got a majority even though it couldn’t breach the Republican filibuster, but as Greg Sargent explains, getting a majority was vitallly important.

DailyKos‘ Joan McCarter reports that when asked about the prospects for the President’s jobs bill, Illinois Senator Dick Durban allowed that there aren’t enough Democratic Senators who can be relied on to pass the bill:

There are some senators who are up for election who say I’m never gonna vote for a tax increase while I’m up for election, even on the wealthiest people. So, we’re not gonna have 100% Democratic senators. That’s why it needs to be bi-partisan and I hope we can find some Republicans who will join us to make it happen.

McCarter notes that Durban does not name names, so she supplies some of the most obvious:

We pretty much know who he’s talking about here: Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Claire McCaskill. Maybe Bill Nelson, maybe even Jon Tester, as well.

Get that? Is our Claire McCaskill really one of the votes standing in the way of policies that we elected her to support? Given the content of her recent email, touting an op-ed she wrote for the  Kansas City Star, I’d say it’s hard to tell just where she plans on coming down; it seems to be a little of this and a little of that, amounting to not too much of anything.  

I include the introductory content of her email – minus the op-ed she also includes – below the fold. (The op-ed can be found here.)  You will notice, if you read both, that she’s carefully trying to work both sides of the street, shoveling on the GOP’s favored anti-government, anti-regulation, anti-tax rhetoric, while mentioning some of the jobs bill provisions and other initiatives that liberals can be expected to approve.

McCasill’s quick to endorse ideas meant to appeal to the center-right, like the President’s proposed tax cuts “that have traditionally won bipartisan support,” while she’s down on “big promises” to fix the economy and “unreasonable or untimely regulation” that might “overburden” business. She carefully tries to distance herself from anything that smacks of liberal, progressive or, to put it mildly, comprehensive governmental approaches to fixing our problems:

During this debate, Missourians have heard from politicians on the extreme ends of the spectrum – some shouting that the government can’t do anything and folks should be left on their own, and others shouting that government is the solution and that we can spend our way into a full-blown recovery.

The solutions she explicitly endorses are okay, mostly, if underwhelming. Lots are typical McCaskill, which is to say lots of itty-bitty pecking-at-the-details types of legislation, which, while undeniably useful, are apt to have correspondingly small effects, at least when taken individually in the way she seems to be promoting. She mentions such efforts as consolidating job training programs, combating tariff evasion, etc. She indicates that she will support transportation infrastructure spending, although she does not indicate the extent of her support of the relevant proposals in the President’s jobs bill, nor does she mention support for education infrastructure spending or other important provisions that the President has proposed. In short, McCasikill has produced a genuinely artful exercise in trying not to piss anyone off too terribly much. And we all know the problem with this type of approach, right?

McCarter gets it right when she observes, apropos the supposed obstructionism of these Democratic-lite senators:

How about instead of protecting these senators, leadership leans on them a little harder to get on board with what is probably the key push to save all their hides, including President Obama’s, in 2012: jobs. A little bit of populism, a little bit of taxing the rich, in Nebraska, in Missouri, in Montana, even in Florida, isn’t going to hurt any senator seeking reelection. Not in those states. Of course, there’s always the possibility that some of these senators are more concerned with their big money supporters than the voters.

I personally wouldn’t accuse McCaskill of anything more venal that worrying about the much vaunted outstate conservatism. I will, however, hold her accountable for enabling a destructive GOP narrative when she doesn’t really have to do so. As to what she’s going to do about the jobs bill when push comes to shove, who knows? And aren’t we entitled to know? We pay her salary after all. Same goes for asking whom she expects to please with efforts of this sort. Or, put another way, just whom is she trying to fool?

September 29, 2011

Dear XXXXXXXX,

I spent the month of August criss-crossing Missouri to hear directly from Missouri businesses and workers.  They all told me the same thing, that they want to see Washington stop playing politics and get to work on commonsense measures that can get bipartisan agreement.  They don’t want any more big promises.  They want to see those hard-working Missourians struggling in this economy get back on their feet and back to work without losing their homes or ability to feed their family in the process.  They want an economy that is not overburdened by unreasonable or untimely regulation. They want Washington to listen and to focus on helping in ways that actually work.  

Based on what I learned in August, I have introduced bills to crack down on unfair trade practices, and ensure that contracts reserved for small business actually go to small business, and I am working on legislation to consolidate job training programs so that less money gets wasted on administration and more money gets to the businesses and workers who use it.  I am fighting to win a long term extension of transportation funding so we can fix our nation’s crumbling roads and bridges and put thousands of Americans to work in construction.  And I am prepared to work on provisions in the President’s jobs proposal, like tax relief for middle income earners and tax incentives for businesses hiring new employees, that have traditionally won bipartisan support.

With this in mind, and knowing of your interest in the state of our economy, I have included the op-ed I recently published in the Kansas City Star about my trip, which you can read below.

Sincerely,

Claire McCaskill

United States Senator

Find McCaskill’s op-ed here

Finally.

“….Now, the Republicans, when I talked about this earlier in the week, they said, well, this is class warfare.  You know what, if asking a billionaire to pay their fair share of taxes, to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare, then you know what, I’m a warrior for the middle class.  (Applause.)  I’m happy to fight for the middle class.  I’m happy to fight for working people.  (Applause.)  Because the only warfare I’ve seen is the battle against the middle class over the last 10, 15 years….”

The White House transcript:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

September 22, 2011

Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act — Cincinnati, OH

Hilltop Basic Resources-River Terminal, Cincinnati, Ohio

2:55 P.M. EDT

       THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Cincinnati!  (Applause.)  Well, it is good to see all of you.  It is good to be back in Cincinnati.  (Applause.)  I have to say I drove by the Bengals’ practice — (laughter.)  And I was scouting out some plays in case they play the Bears — (laughter.)  Did I hear somebody boo the Bears?

       AUDIENCE:  Booo!  (Laughter.)  

       THE PRESIDENT:  We’ve got some folks I just want to make sure are acknowledged here today.  First of all, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, is in the house.  Give him a round of applause.  (Applause.)  We’ve got the mayor of the great city of Cincinnati — Mark Mallory is here.  (Applause.)  We’ve got the mayor of Covington, Mayor Denny Bowman.  (Applause.)  Senator Rand Paul is here.  

       AUDIENCE:  Booo –…

…THE PRESIDENT:  Rand is going to be supporting bridges, so we’ve got to — (applause.)  And we’ve got Congressman John Yarmuth in the house.  (Applause.)  

       Now, it is good to be back.  I was just in Columbus a little while ago, and I figured I couldn’t get away with not giving     Cincinnati a little bit of love.  (Applause.)

       I want to thank the good folks at Hilltop Concrete for having us here today.  I especially want to thank Ron for his introduction.    

       Companies like Hilltop, construction companies, have been hit harder by this economic crisis than almost any other industry in America.  And there are millions of construction workers who are still out there looking for a job.  They’re ready to work, but things have been a little tough.  That doesn’t mean that there is not plenty of construction waiting to get done in this country.  

       Behind us stands the Brent Spence Bridge.  It’s located on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America.  It sees about 150,000 vehicles every single day.  And it’s in such poor condition that it’s been labeled “functionally obsolete.”  Think about that — functionally obsolete.  That doesn’t sound good, does it?  

       AUDIENCE:  Nooo!

       THE PRESIDENT:  It’s safe to —

       AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Kind of like John Boehner.  (Laughter.)  

       THE PRESIDENT:  It’s safe to drive on, but it was not designed to accommodate today’s traffic, which can stretch out for a mile.  Shipping companies try to have their trucks avoid the bridge.  Of course, that only ends up costing them more money as well.  

       The thing is there are bridges and roads and highways like that throughout the region.  A major bridge that connects Kentucky and Indiana just closed down for safety reasons.  Another aging bridge that crosses over the Ohio River in Ironton could be replaced right now.  There are rail stations in Cleveland and Toledo in desperate need of repair.  And the same is true in cities and towns all across America.  It makes your commute longer.  It costs our businesses billions of dollars — they could be moving products faster if they had better transportation routes.  And in some cases, it’s not safe.

       Now, we used to have the best infrastructure in the world here in America.  We’re the country that built the Intercontinental Railroad, the Interstate Highway System.  (Applause.)  We built the Hoover Dam.  We built the Grand Central Station.  (Applause.)  So how can we now sit back and let China build the best railroads?  And let Europe build the best highways?  And have Singapore build a nicer airport?  At a time when we’ve got millions of unemployed construction workers out there just ready to get on the job, ready to do the work to rebuilding America.  (Applause.)

       So, Cincinnati, we are better than that.  We’re smarter than that.  And that’s why I sent Congress the American Jobs Act 10 days ago.  (Applause.)  This bill is not that complicated.  It’s a bill that would put people back to work rebuilding America — repairing our roads, repairing our bridges, repairing our schools.  It would lead to jobs for concrete workers like the ones here at Hilltop; jobs for construction workers and masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, architects, engineers, ironworkers — put folks back to work.  (Applause.)  

       There is work to be done, and there are workers ready to do it.  So let’s tell Congress to pass this jobs bill right away.  (Applause.)

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  Pass this bill!  (Laughter.)  Pass the bill!

       Tell them to pass the jobs bill, and not only will we start rebuilding America, but we can also put thousands of teachers back to work.  (Applause.)  

       I was with the President of South Korea — I was up at the United Nations.  We were doing a bunch of stuff.  And he’s told me in the past — I’ve asked him, I said, what’s your biggest challenge?  He says, oh, education.  I said, well, what are you dealing with?  He said, well, you know what, we’re hiring so many teachers we can barely keep up, because we know that if we’re going to compete in the future we’ve got to have the best teachers.  (Applause.)  And we’ve got to have our kids in school longer.  And we’ve got to make sure that they’re learning math and science.

       Well, while they’re hiring teachers in droves, what are we doing?  We’re laying off teachers.  It makes no sense in this new global economy where our young people’s success is going to depend on the kind of education that they get.  So for us to be laying off teachers doesn’t make sense for our kids, it doesn’t make sense for us, it doesn’t make sense for our economy.  

       Pass this jobs bill and put teac
hers back in the classroom where they belong.  (Applause.)

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  They need to go and pass it.  

       Tell Congress to pass this jobs bill, and companies will get tax credit for hiring America’s veterans.  (Applause.)  We’ve been through a decade of war now.  Almost 2 million people have served.  And think about it.  They’re suspending their careers; they’re leaving their families; they’re putting themselves in harm way — all to protect us.  The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home.  (Applause.)  And if we pass this jobs bill it makes it easier for employers to hire those veterans.  That’s why we need to tell Congress to do what?  To pass the bill.

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  The American Jobs Act will cut taxes for the typical working family by $1,500 next year.  It will cut taxes for every small business in America.  It will give an extra tax cut to every small business owner who either hires more workers or raises those workers’ wages.  How many people here would like a raise?  (Applause.)

       And we know that most small businesses are the creators of new jobs.  We’ve got a lot of folks in Congress who love to say how they’re behind America’s job creators.  Well, if that’s the case, then you should be passing this bill, because that’s what this bill is all about, is helping small businesses all across America.

       Everything in this jobs bill has been supported in the past by Republicans and Democrats.  Everything in this jobs bill is paid for.  The idea for a big boost in construction is supported by the AFL-CIO, but it’s also supported by the Chamber of Commerce.  Those two don’t get along on much, but they agree we should rebuild America.  (Applause.)

       And, by the way, thanks to the reforms that we’ve put into place, when we start rebuilding America we’re going to change how business is done.  No more earmarks.  No more boondoggles.  No more bridges to nowhere.  We’re going to cut the red tape that prevents some of these construction projects from getting started as quickly as possible.  And we’ll set up an independent fund to attract private dollars and issue loans based on two criteria:  how badly is a construction project needed, and how much good will it do for the community.  Those are the only things we should be thinking about.  Not politics.  (Applause.)  And, by the way, that’s an idea that’s supported by a Massachusetts Democrat and a Texas Republican.  It’s a good idea.  

       So my question is, what’s Congress waiting for?  Why is it taking so long?  Now, the bridge behind us just happens to connect the state that’s home to the Speaker of the House —

       AUDIENCE:  Booo —

       THE PRESIDENT:  — with the home state of the Republican leader in the Senate.

       AUDIENCE:  Booo —

       THE PRESIDENT:  Now, that’s just a coincidence.  (Laughter.) Purely accidental that that happened.  (Laughter.)  But part of the reason I came here is because Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell, those are the two most powerful Republicans in government.  They can either kill this jobs bill, or they can help pass this jobs bill.  (Applause.)  And I know these men care about their states. They care about businesses; they care about workers here.  I can’t imagine that the Speaker wants to represent a state where nearly one in four bridges are classified as substandard — one in four.  I know that when Senator McConnell visited the closed bridge in Kentucky, he said that, “Roads and bridges are not partisan in Washington.”  That’s great.  I know that Paul Ryan, the Republican in charge of the budget process, recently said that “you can’t deny that infrastructure does creates jobs.”  That’s what he said.  

       Well, if that’s the case, there’s no reason for Republicans in Congress to stand in the way of more construction projects.  There’s no reason to stand in the way of more jobs.  

       Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, help us rebuild this bridge.  (Applause.)  Help us rebuild America.  Help us put construction workers back to work.  (Applause.)  Pass this bill.  

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  Let’s pass the bill.

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  Now, some folks in Congress, they say, well, we don’t like how it’s paid for.  Well, it’s paid for as part of my larger plan to pay down our debt.  And that’s why I make some additional cuts in spending.  We already cut a trillion dollars in spending.  This makes an additional hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts in spending, but it also asks the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.  (Applause.)

       Now, that should not be too much to ask.  And by the way, it wouldn’t kick in until 2013.  So when you hear folks say, oh, we shouldn’t be raising taxes right now — nobody is talking about raising taxes right now.  We’re talking about cutting taxes right now.  But it does mean that there’s a long-term plan, and part of it involves everybody doing their fair share.  (Applause.)

       THE PRESIDENT:  Now, this isn’t to punish success.  What’s great about this country is our belief that anybody can make it. If you’re willing to put in the sweat, if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, if you’re willing to work hard, you’ve got a good idea, you’re out there taking a risk — God bless you.  You can make millions, you can make billions of dollars in America.  This is the land of opportunity.  (Applause.)  That’s great.  All I’m saying is, if you’ve done well — I’ve done well — then you should do a little something to give something back.  (Applause.) You should want to see the country that provided you with this opportunity to be successful, and be able to provide opportunity for the young people who are going to be coming up behind you.  (Applause.)

       And all I’m saying is that everything should be fair.  You know, you learn the idea of fairness when you’re two, three years old.  Right?  You’re in the sandbox and you don’t want to let somebody play with your truck — (laughter) — and your mom or your daddy go up and they say, “No, hon, that’s not fair, you’ve got to share.”  Isn’t that what they say?  Things have to be fair.  So all I’m saying is that Warren Buffett’s secretary should not be paying a lower [sic] tax rate on her income than Warren Buffett.  (Applause.)  That doesn’t make any sense.  A construction worker who’s making 50 or 60 grand a year shouldn’t be paying higher tax rates than the guy who’s making $50 million a year.  (Applause.)  And that’s how it’s working right now.  Because they get all these loopholes and tax breaks that you don’t get.

       So for me to say, let’s close those loopholes, let’s eliminate those tax breaks, and let’s make sure that everybody is paying their fair share — there’s nothing wrong with t
hat.  (Applause.)  

       Now, this is about priorities.  It’s about making choices.  If we just had all kinds of money and everybody was working, and we hadn’t gone through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, then maybe we wouldn’t have to make choices.  But right now we’ve got to make some choices.  We’ve got to decide what our priorities are.  If we want to pay for this jobs plan, and close the deficit, and invest in our infrastructure, and make sure we’ve got the best education system in the world, the money has got to come from some place.  Would you rather that the oil companies get to keep their tax loopholes?  

       AUDIENCE:  No!

       THE PRESIDENT:  Or would you rather make sure that we’re hiring thousands of construction workers to rebuild America?  (Applause.)  Would you rather keep in place special tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?  

       AUDIENCE:  No!

       THE PRESIDENT:  Or would you say, let’s get teachers back in the classroom so our children can learn?  (Applause.)  

       Now, the Republicans, when I talked about this earlier in the week, they said, well, this is class warfare.  You know what, if asking a billionaire to pay their fair share of taxes, to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare, then you know what, I’m a warrior for the middle class.  (Applause.)  I’m happy to fight for the middle class.  I’m happy to fight for working people.  (Applause.)  Because the only warfare I’ve seen is the battle against the middle class over the last 10, 15 years.

       It’s time to build an economy that creates good, middle-class jobs in this country.  It’s time to build an economy that honors the values of hard work and responsibility.  It’s time to build an economy that lasts.  And, Cincinnati, that starts right now.  That starts with your help.  (Applause.)  Maybe some of the people in Congress would rather settle their differences at the ballot box than work together right now.  In fact, a while back, Senator McConnell said that his “top priority” — number-one priority — was “to defeat the President.”  That was his top priority.

       AUDIENCE:  Booo —

       THE PRESIDENT:  Not jobs, not putting people back to work, not rebuilding America.  Beating me.  Well, I’ve got news for him, and every other member of Congress who feels the same way.  The next election is 14 months away, and I’ll be happy to tangle sometime down the road.  But the American people right now don’t have the luxury of waiting to solve our problems for another 14 months.  (Applause.)  A lot of folks are living paycheck to paycheck.  A lot of folks are just barely getting by.  They need us to get to work right now.  They need us to pass this bill.  (Applause.)

       So I’m asking all of you — I need everybody here to lift your voices — not just in Cincinnati, but anybody who’s watching TV, or anybody who’s within the range of my voice — I want everybody to lift up their voices.  I want you to call.  I want you to email.  I want you to tweet.  I want you to fax.  I want you to visit.  If you want, write a letter — it’s been a while. (Laughter.)  I want you to tell your congressperson that the time for gridlock and games-playing is over.  Tell them you want to create jobs, so pass this bill.  (Applause.)  

       If you want construction workers rebuilding America — pass this bill.  (Applause.)  If you want teachers back in the classrooms — pass this bill.

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  If you want to cut taxes for middle-class families — pass this bill.

       AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  If you want to help small businesses, what do you do?

       THE AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!  

       THE PRESIDENT:  If you want veterans to share in the opportunities of this country, what should you do?

       THE AUDIENCE:  Pass this bill!

       THE PRESIDENT:  Now is the time to act.  Because we are not a people that just sit back and wait for things to happen.  We go ahead and make things happen.  We’re tougher than the times we live in.  We are bigger than the politics that we’ve been seeing these last few months.  Let’s meet this moment.  Let’s get back to work.  Let’s show the world once again why America is the greatest nation on Earth.  

       God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END 3:12 P.M. EDT

Better late than never.

Think maybe some in the GOP might be trying to figure out how to cover their backsides on the jobs thing? Of course, when it comes down to brass tacks, they’re going to obstruct and obstruct again since the only thing they’ve got going for 2012 is to ensure that Obama fails, but I think they may be figuring out that they aren’t looking too pretty as they go about trying to bury the economic recovery.

Take, for example, Roy Blunt’s effort to dismiss Obama’s jobs speech before he ever heard it by suggesting that it wasn’t worth a joint congressional session:

“The pressure,” Blunt said, “is much greater than it would have been if he would have decided to come out with those same job proposals at a manufacturing facility somewhere.” He added, “Or as Mitt Romney did, at a Truck Body shop, or somewhere.”

A body shop? Dissing the president for sure, but doesn’t it also sound like he’s thinks he and his oh-so venerable colleagues in the congress are just a little too good to dirty their hands with America’s umemployment problem?

Be that as it may, Blunt was certainly trying to construct some kind of cover when he lobbed an email  titled “A Special Message From Senator Roy Blunt” into our inboxes early this morning. It is clearly intended to provide a safe place where Blunt can hide and take potshots at the President while avoiding doing anything substantive about unemployment.

The pervasive theme of Blunt’s little opus is the pretense that our economic problems should be laid at Obama’s feet, conveniently ignoring the fact that the economy was creeping forward, far too slowly to be sure, but jobs were being added right up to the point where the austerity measures and spending cuts that the GOP insisted on began to kick in. Then, presto-bingo, zero jobs growth.

Blunt, a leading player in the Bush era congress that got us all prepped for the big crash of 2008, wants us to believe that Obama’s handling of the economy has resulted in a situation massively worse than it was when we were teetering on the edge of the abyss. To make this  point he cites lots of comparative figures that are meant to prove that things are lots worse right now.

Unfortunately, Blunt’s comparisons omit context that might otherwise leave him, as one of the architects of our current dilemma, with pie on his face. For instance, he seems to really relish the fact that insurance premiums are higher now than in the past. Well, duh … health care costs were careening upwards long before Obama, whose Affordable Care Act (ACA) was engineered to slow rising costs – which is very likely to happen over the long haul after the ACA is fully implemented in 2014 – or in some cases, even sooner.

Of course, some of the comparisons Blunt offers are also just wrong. For instance, he claims that gas prices are 98% higher now than they were in 2008. Does he mean something other than the price of fuel at the pump? Because not only do I remember prices over $4.00 a gallon at the pump in 2008, I can document it as well. And I believe that gas currently costs somewhat over $3.00 a gallon. Does he just pull these figures out of the air?

And what do you think Mr. Blunt suggests as the solution to our high unemployment? If you said cut taxes for the wealthy, and gut regulations you would have hit the nail on the head. Goes to show you can’t teach an old dog new tricks: Blunt got this mantra down during the Bush years and, never mind that it nearly brought our economy down, he isn’t giving up on it now.

The real slap in the face was that Roy Blunt, proud member of the GOP – the clowns who nearly shut down the government in April, then took the economy hostage in July, resulting in a first-ever credit downgrade and months of market instability, and who did all this with a show of utter disdain for their duly elected Democratic colleagues and for the President – has the gall to call the President to task to work for “real, bipartisan change.” I can only point out to Senator Blunt that today the stock market cratered once again, dragging my 401(k) ever closer to the mud. The reason? The market’s uncertainty that the GOP will permit the congress to pass the President’s jobs bill. Which means, as Robert Reich has pointed out, it’s gonna be the GOP’s double dip – and I’m not talking about ice-cream.

You want to read Senator Blunt’s “special message”? Go ahead – it’s reproduced below the fold.

September 09, 2011

Dear Friends,

During my travels throughout Missouri in August, I met with countless business owners, farmers, local leaders, families, and other people who are concerned about Washington’s out-of-control spending and want President Obama to get serious about policies that will help spur private sector job creation.

Unfortunately, last night Americans heard more empty rhetoric from the President as we continue to face skyrocketing debt and unemployment under his administration’s policies. Just last week, we learned that zero jobs were created during the month of August. Meanwhile, America’s unemployment has increased 17%, our federal debt has increased 39%, gas prices are up 98%, home values have decreased 11%, and health insurance premiums have increased 19% since the President took office in 2009.

Clearly, the President’s approach has failed – it’s time for real, bipartisan change if we’re going to right our nation’s economy. I hope President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Senate will take this opportunity to work with Republicans to rein in reckless spending, eliminate onerous regulations, and pass pro-growth tax policies in order to give small business owners the certainty they need to grow jobs and jump start our nation’s economy.

I also joined my colleagues this week in calling for President Obama to send Congress the job-promoting trade agreements pending with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. With every day these trade deals linger, America is losing jobs and market share to competing countries. Agriculture is one of the few sectors of our economy with a trade surplus, the agriculture industry in Missouri and across America would benefit greatly from this expansion of global exports.

Finally, as we approach the 10th anniversary of the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, we honor those who lost their lives, and I remain thankful that our nation has remained safe from another attack over the last decade. This accomplishment is in great part thanks to our intelligence professionals and all of the men and women in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifices to protect our safety and our nation’s freedoms.

Today, we face another very real crisis in America – one that requires the same bipartisanship, leadership, and resolve that we witnessed in the aftermath of those deadly attacks on 9/11. Our nation’s economy is in crisis, and just as we witnessed 10 years ago, I am confident that we can harness that same sense of unity today as we work together to get America’s financial future back on track.

As always, I encourage you to continue the conversation by visiting my website, or connect with other Missourians and get  frequent updates from me, by joining me on Facebook or on Twitter.

It finally sank in somewhere that the republicans won’t compromise on anything. Period.

This morning in Richmond, Virginia:

President Obama:….we gotta give them a little help to do the right thing. [voice: “That’s right.”] So I’m asking all of you to lift up your voices, not just here in Richmond, anybody watching, listening, following online, I want you to call, I want you to email, I want you to tweet [laughter], I want you to fax, I want you to visit, I want to, you to Facebook [laughter], send a carrier pigeon [laughter]. I want you to tell your congressperson, the time for gridlock and games is over. [applause] The time for action is now. [cheers] The time to create jobs is now. [applause] Pass this bill.

If you want construction workers on the white, work site, pass this bill. [applause] If you want teachers in the classroom, pass this bill.  [applause] You want small bus, business owners to hire new people, pass this bill. [applause] You want veterans to get their fair share of opportunity that they helped create, pass this bill. [applause] You want a tax break, pass this bill. [applause]

Prove you will fight as hard for tax cuts for workers and middle class people as you do for oil companies and rich folks. Pass this bill. [applause] Let’s get something done. [applause]

The next election is fourteen months away. [voices: “Four more years.”] We cannot wait. The American people do not have the luxury of waiting another fourteen months for some action. Some of you are living paycheck to paycheck, week to week, day by day. [applause] Now is not the time for people in Washington to be worrying about their jobs. It’s time for them to be worrying about your jobs. [applause] Now is the time to put Americans back to work. Now is the time to act. [applause]

We are not a people that just look and watch and wait to see what happens. We’re Americans. We make things happen. [applause] We’re tougher than these times. We are bigger than the smallness of our politics. We are patriots and we are pioneers, and innovators and entrepreneurs, who through individual effort and through a common commitment to one another will build an economy that is once again the engine and the envy of the world. [applause] And we will write our own destiny.

It’s within our power. [voice: “Uh, huh.”] But we’ve got to seize the moment. So let’s just shake off all the naysaying and the anxiety and the hand-wringing. Enough of that. Let’s get to work. [applause] Let’s show the world once again why America is the greatest nation on Earth. Thank you, everybody. God bless you.  [applause] God bless America.[applause]

Others haven’t quite figured out that the word “compromise” to republicans only means that they are entitled to get everything they want. Yesterday:

McCaskill statement on President’s address to Congress

…Weeks on the road getting input from Missouri’s manufacturers has led me to believe we can keep creating more jobs with some commonsense ideas-more efficient job skills training, a crackdown on unfair trade practices that put our companies at a disadvantage, guarding against any excessive regulation, and making sure our small businesses have the tools needed to succeed.  The devil is in the details, and I’ll be taking a hard look at the President’s ideas in the next few days. But the bottom line is that Congress must come together and compromise to tackle this challenge.  If there’s one message I hope Congress left with tonight, it’s that putting more folks back to work is more important than who’s going to win the next election.

[emphasis added]

Uh, you think Lucy isn’t gonna pull the football away Charlie Brown?

The usual republican suspects blather their memes and talking points:

Congresswoman Hartzler issues statement in response to President Obama’s jobs speech to Congress

…President Obama needs to visit with small business owners, as I have, and ask them why they are not hiring. It’s not due to the cost of the proposed salary that could be averted through tax credits: It’s due to the onerous policies of Washington. President Obama would have been better off proposing a repeal of his health care bill which is causing skyrocketing increases in health care premiums; repealing the Dodd-Frank banking bill which is stifling credit for our business owners; reducing the cost of energy by promoting the use of American energy; and sending us the Free Trade Agreements that he has been withholding for too long. These proposals would go further toward creating jobs than championing another spending bill. Last year’s $800 billion stimulus package didn’t create private sector jobs. I don’t believe these proposals will either.

There’s something familiar there. Do you think the samples of either “manufacturers” and “small business owners” had anything in common? Just asking.

Did they talk to unemployed and underemployed people? Just asking.

Back to Representative Vicky Hartzler’s (r) bold statement: “…Last year’s $800 billion stimulus package didn’t create private sector jobs…”



Oh, really?

Here’s another statement (along with an explanation):

The ARRA created 1.503 million jobs

Many readers have asked me to comment on a recent paper by two US academic economists which is being promoted by Greg Mankiw that estimates the employment impact of the spending component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The authors say that the fiscal stimulus spending destroyed (net) around 600 thousand jobs in the private sector. When I read their paper, using their rules of interpreting their results I concluded they found that ARRA created 1.503 million jobs. But if I use the rules that the profession typically employs I find that their paper finds nothing of interest at all. Their econometric models yield no worthwhile results. The question that Greg Mankiw should answer is why is he promoting such a non-result as if it is important?….

….I would think that given the gravity of this sort of study, you would want to be very certain that your results were robust. At the very least a 5 per cent level of significance (the norm) would be chosen. Going to a 10 per cent level would be a very odd decision indeed….

[emphasis added]

Go. Read the whole thing. You’ll easily understand it if you aren’t vacuous.

Most of us have heard our more retrograde legislators and cable news pontificators gleefully proclaim the stimulus a failure – despite evidence that it softened the recession fallout considerably (see also here). Wiser observers, such as the Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman, note that more rather than less stimulus was what was really needed if we wanted to give the economy the boost required to rev up the jobs engine:

What we’re in right now is the aftermath of a giant financial crisis, which typically leads to a prolonged period of economic weakness – and this time isn’t different. A bolder economic policy early this year might have led to a turnaround, but what we actually got were half-measures. As a result, unemployment is likely to stay near its current level for a year or more.

Sadly, Krugman is probably correct when he notes that efforts to augment the stimulus with realistic job-creation measures will probably fall victim to the current political climate. The result, according to Krugman, will be “years of terrible job markets, combined with political paralysis.”

Krugman’s grim observations were brought vividly home to me when I came across Claire McCaskill’s comments on the topic of a potential Senate jobs bill:

I think we’ve got to be really careful in thinking we can spend government money to get us out of recession,” said Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, who called for low-interest loans for small businesses.

Nothing too cringeworthy in that pious little observation – but nothing too promising in the vision and courage departments either.  

While the President may set the direction, no president, no matter how visionary or politically savy, can do what needs to be done alone. He needs the support of smart legislators with the courage to take the necessary political risks, not those who, like McCaskill, tiptoe around issues out of fear of offending the sensibilities of the small-minded.

What I want to hear from McCaskill and the rest of the Missouri delegation – the Democrats at any rate, since the Republicans are a lost cause – are serious ideas.  They don’t even have to do the heavy-lifting; there’s lots of good thinking out there for them to draw upon.

Consider, for instance, the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Five-point Plan to Stem the Jobs Crisis, which recommends a WPA style program, along with investments in infrastructure, transportation, and education. The EPI estimates that it would create an estimated 4.6 million jobs in the first year alone, and could be funded by a financial transaction tax, which, in the best progressive style, would hit only wealthiest ten percent.

Why isn’t McCaskill at least addressing ideas like these rather than taking refuge in Republican-lite rhetoric? And why doesn’t she tell us why she is so negative about cap-and-trade? Even honest conservatives like Lindsey Graham admit that controllling CO2 emissions and shifting to a green economy could  power up the economy.

It’s early days yet after all. The President’s job’s forum will take place just tomorrow, initiating the new emphasis on jobs, and there will be time in the coming months for McCaskill to develop her thinking and to communicate her ideas.  Perhaps she’ll blow our socks off.  And perhaps she won’t.  

The latest on the jobs bill in the Senate, according to Senator Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, is that the parties to the disagreement have been negotiating. They’ve got it all worked out except for one snag, but it’s a deal killer for Smith.

They worked it out that Crowell would relent in his insistence that all tax credits be subject to the annual appropriations process. But the talks have broken down so far on whether to exempt small projects–small meaning $1.3 million or less–from the proposed cap on historic tax credits. Smith said:

“I want to make sure that rehabbers in neighborhoods all over the city have a chance to circumvent the cap and don’t get crowded out by large projects, so I need to have some exemption.”

Updates as I get them.