Obama Scolds GOP After Jobs Bill Provision Stalls

By Adrianna McGinley

The Senate blocked a $35 billion piece of the American Jobs Act Thursday night aimed at putting teachers and first responders back to work, but the President says he’s not done trying. 

“Our fight isn’t over,” Obama said in a statement Thursday. “We will keep working with Congress to bring up the American Jobs Act piece by piece, and give Republicans another chance to put country before party.”

In a 50-50 vote Thursday, far short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, every Senate Republican and three Democrats voted against the legislation that would delegate billions to states and local governments to hire teachers and first responders. 

“That’s unacceptable,” Obama said. “Every Senate Republican voted to block a bill that would help middle class families and keep hundreds of thousands of firefighters on the job, police officers on the streets, and teachers in the classroom … Those Americans deserve an explanation as to why they don’t deserve those jobs.”

Carney Doesn't See Job Growth In GOP Jobs Plan

By Mike Hothi

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney criticized Republicans today for not putting forward a plan that would help create jobs.

“It is unfortunate but true that though the Republicans have put forward economic plans, they have not put forward a plan that would in any way have a measurably positive impact on economic growth or job creation over the next 12 to 18 months,” Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The Senate Republican plan Carney was referring to includes a combination of tax cuts, a moratorium on new regulations, an end to restrictions on off-shore oil exploration, a repeal of President Obama’s healthcare law and a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

But Carney remains optimistic that the Senate will take up the President’s jobs bill. “We are confident that Senator Reid will be able to say something about the scheduling of a vote in the relatively near future.”

Last week, Senate Democrats failed to get enough votes to move Obama’s jobs bill to a final vote. Now, it looks as though the Senate will break up the bill and vote on it piece by piece. The first component that could see action would involve keeping public educators on the job.

“That is our expectation, that the first measure will be teachers,” Carney said.

That measure, valued at roughly $35 billion, would also help states keep first responders on the job.

Reid On GOP: They Talk The Talk, Can't Walk The Walk

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that Republican lawmakers talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk when it comes to creating jobs.

“My Republican colleagues certainly pay lip service to the unemployment crisis in this country, but in the end actions speak louder than words,” Reid said.

Reid blasted lawmakers who opposed the president’s jobs plan and argued that they join the majority of Americans who support the provisions included in the legislation.

“Americans couldn’t care less who proposed the plan or who gets the credit,” Reid said. “The only thing they care about is that Congress gets to work putting them back to work.”

Obama Continues To Stump For Jobs, Despite Senate Defeat

By Janie Amaya

President Barack Obama continued to tout his administration’s jobs bill, despite seeing it fail to pass a key procedural vote in the Senate Tuesday night.

 I sent Congress a jobs bill made up of the kinds of proposals that, traditionally, Democrats and Republicans have supported.  Independent economists who do this for a living have said the American Jobs Act would lead to more growth and nearly 2 million jobs next year,” Obama said during a forum Wednesday on American Latino Heritage. “But apparently, none of this matters to Republicans in the Senate.  Because last night, even though a majority of senators voted in favor of the American Jobs Act, a Republican minority got together as a group and blocked this jobs bill from passing the Senate.”

Obama added that he refuses taking no for an answer and will continue to pressure Congress to meet its responsibility to put Americans back to work.

Earlier Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney acknowledged that the White House will now focus on passing individual portions of the larger jobs package.

RNC Chair Tags Obama As "Campaigner-In-Chief"

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tagged President Obama as “Campaigner-in-Chief” Tuesday during a conference call previewing the president’s upcoming travel plans to publicize his American Jobs Act.

“He loves campaigning, he loves raising money, he loves giving big speeches because that’s what he’s good at,” Priebus said. “But, he’s not good at following through on his promises and getting this economy back on the rails.”

The RNC Chair was critical of the cities Obama selected to visit - Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia - and argued that they were selected because they are battleground states for the 2012 presidential election.

Additionally, while Obama has continued to assure Congress and the public that his jobs bill is paid for, the RNC chair argued that these claims are fraudulent and said that Obama has yet to offer a credible method of paying for the $447 billion bill, legislation Priebus calls “Stimulus 2.”