Hoyer Presses GOP To Move On Jobs Bill

By Janie Amaya

House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) accused Republicans on Tuesday of failing to produce jobs legislation during their first nine months in charge of the House.

Hoyer told reporters during his weekly briefing that action must be taken on President Obama’s American Jobs Act, and argued that Republicans have already voiced support for several elements in the plan.

“Not only have we not moved the jobs bill, there have been no hearings on the jobs bill,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer said it was unfortunate that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said yesterday that the bill has zero chance of passing the House.

The Maryland Democrat pointed to forecasts predicting that the jobs package would create nearly two million jobs, cut the unemployment rate by a point on average and increase growth by two percentage points. 

Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., Hoyer said, “I hope the committee feels the ‘fierce urgency of now’ as the stock market reflects a lack of confidence, as Europe is roiled and as the virus of the lack of confidence in our markets spreads rapidly throughout the world. This is a time of significant moment and hopefully we’re up to the tasks.”

Democrats and Republicans need to sink their teeth in to reach consensus

By Candyce Torres and Suzia Van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss) expresses his opinion on President Obama's speech, reaching consensus within both parties, and comments on promises of cutting the deficit in half. "Well I would have started with not spending the eight hundred billion dollars that we have spent on the stimulus." said Wicker

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer calls for bipartisanship

During a press conference today, Representative Steny Hoyer (D-Md) discussed the need for a bipartisan effort on upcoming legislation, stating that true bipartisanship means "working together to achieve objectives on behalf of the American people."

The House will meet on Wednesday to vote on the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, which aims to provide over 4 million children with health insurance. Hoyer stated that ensuring the health of American children will be a "very definite benefit to our country and our people." He hopes for bipartisan support of this bill.

When discussing the economic stimulus plan, which the House Republicans voted against unanimously, Hoyer stated confidence in President Obama and expressed the need to act quickly for stabilization. In response to the Republican's rejection of the bill, he gave an example of President Clinton's economic plan in 1993 which received no support from the Republicans, but the plan created substantial economic recovery.


When asked about the need to borrow money from China for the stimulus, Hoyer stated "absolutely I'm concerned." However, he believes, "in the short term, there's no alternative... failure to get the economy moving will cost us more."

Hoyer concluded the meeting by again expressing the need to be bipartisan. He stated that President Obama is "absolutely correct," that the American public wants its leadership to work together in order to fix the problems that we have.