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.”

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.”

Unemployed Will Have Little To Be Thankful For, Claims Congresswoman

Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) had harsh words for her fellow Congress members on defeating H.R. 6419, the Emergency Unemployment Continuation Compensation Act, before leaving on Thanksgiving holiday.

“Only a Congress without any semblance of a conscience could have a happy Thanksgiving while unemployment benefits for millions of Americans expire during the Thanksgiving holiday on November 27,” said the Congresswoman in a written release.

The legislation would have extended benefits until February 28th, 2011 for unemployed Americans, including 8,100 D.C. residents.

Norton added that there is no disagreement among economists that unemployment insurance benefits are an immediate stimulus to the economy because they are spent immediately, injecting needed demand into the marketplace. She has vowed to continue to fight for these benefits. 

Unemployment Benefits Claims Increase

According to statistics released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor, applications for jobless benefits increased by 2,000 last week. In total, 484,000 Americans filed first-time claims, the highest number since February. Click here for the full report…