Democratic lawmakers were still negotiating the measure’s provisions yesterday and it hadn’t been formally introduced.

“My hope is that both in the House and the Senate we’ll see some packages moving over the next several weeks that can provide a jump-start to hiring and start lowering the unemployment rate,” the president said.
Reid said he was aiming for the Senate to start work on the measure tomorrow; the chamber took today off due to a snowstorm predicted to dump a foot of snow on a Washington area still digging out of a weekend blizzard. “I want to get it done; we may have to work into the weekend because of the weather,” Reid told reporters.
Early yesterday, Reid said he hoped the bill could be voted on by the end of the week. Later, he said he doubted that would happen because of the bad weather was preventing some senators from returning to Washington.
Republican Prediction
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona predicted the chamber will eventually pass the measure, though he said “there is no way it can be acted on this week” because the plan is “not quite yet worked out.”
Kyl also said Democrats shouldn’t advertise the package as jobs legislation because it’s just “extending a bunch of tax policy and related items that we need to do.”
The bill includes provisions on lawmakers’ annual to-do list, such as preventing scheduled cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and extending a series of expiring tax cuts that are unlikely to produce many jobs. In addition, the measure would ease corporate pension-funding requirements, said Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
Lawmakers tentatively agreed to three-month extensions of unemployment insurance and aid to help jobless workers buy health insurance from their former employer, Kyl said. The duration of those extensions may change, he said.
Highway Money
California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer said the plan will include $20 billion for highway and other transportation construction by extending the highway trust fund, which is financed by a federal gasoline excise tax.
Under the Build America bonds program, the U.S. subsidizes infrastructure projects by paying 35 percent of the interest costs from taxable bonds issued by local governments. Obama has proposed making the program permanent while reducing the subsidy to 28 percent.
The nation’s jobless rate was 9.7 percent in January and the percentage of unemployed people out of work for at least six months reached 41 percent, the highest total since the government began keeping track in 1948, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Grassley said lawmakers are awaiting official estimates on how many jobs the plan would create.
Tax Credit Questions
He also said Republicans have questions about the plan’s proposed centerpiece, the payroll tax credit for hiring. “What about some company that has struggled not to lay anybody off and kept them on the payroll? Shouldn’t they get some credit too?” Grassley asked.
That proposal is designed to reduce the cost of hiring new workers by excusing employers from paying a 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax this year for each employee they hire who has been jobless for at least 60 days. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last month it was among those policy changes most likely to reduce unemployment this year.
The House passed a $154 billion jobs package late last year, which would have to be reconciled with whatever legislation is produced by the Senate.
The effort would represent Congress’s fourth major attempt to stimulate the economy since the recession began in December 2007. Lawmakers have approved more than $1 trillion in stimulus- related initiatives, beginning in February 2008 with a $168 billion plan that sent tax-rebate checks to millions of people. A year ago, lawmakers approved Obama’s $862 billion stimulus package. In November, Congress extended several elements of that plan.“My hope is that both in the House and the Senate we’ll see some packages moving over the next several weeks that can provide a jump-start to hiring and start lowering the unemployment rate,” the president said.
Reid said he was aiming for the Senate to start work on the measure tomorrow; the chamber took today off due to a snowstorm predicted to dump a foot of snow on a Washington area still digging out of a weekend blizzard. “I want to get it done; we may have to work into the weekend because of the weather,” Reid told reporters.
Early yesterday, Reid said he hoped the bill could be voted on by the end of the week. Later, he said he doubted that would happen because of the bad weather was preventing some senators from returning to Washington.
Republican Prediction
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona predicted the chamber will eventually pass the measure, though he said “there is no way it can be acted on this week” because the plan is “not quite yet worked out.”
Kyl also said Democrats shouldn’t advertise the package as jobs legislation because it’s just “extending a bunch of tax policy and related items that we need to do.”
The bill includes provisions on lawmakers’ annual to-do list, such as preventing scheduled cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and extending a series of expiring tax cuts that are unlikely to produce many jobs. In addition, the measure would ease corporate pension-funding requirements, said Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
Lawmakers tentatively agreed to three-month extensions of unemployment insurance and aid to help jobless workers buy health insurance from their former employer, Kyl said. The duration of those extensions may change, he said.
Highway Money
California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer said the plan will include $20 billion for highway and other transportation construction by extending the highway trust fund, which is financed by a federal gasoline excise tax.
Under the Build America bonds program, the U.S. subsidizes infrastructure projects by paying 35 percent of the interest costs from taxable bonds issued by local governments. Obama has proposed making the program permanent while reducing the subsidy to 28 percent.
The nation’s jobless rate was 9.7 percent in January and the percentage of unemployed people out of work for at least six months reached 41 percent, the highest total since the government began keeping track in 1948, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Grassley said lawmakers are awaiting official estimates on how many jobs the plan would create.
Tax Credit Questions
He also said Republicans have questions about the plan’s proposed centerpiece, the payroll tax credit for hiring. “What about some company that has struggled not to lay anybody off and kept them on the payroll? Shouldn’t they get some credit too?” Grassley asked.
That proposal is designed to reduce the cost of hiring new workers by excusing employers from paying a 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax this year for each employee they hire who has been jobless for at least 60 days. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last month it was among those policy changes most likely to reduce unemployment this year.
The House passed a $154 billion jobs package late last year, which would have to be reconciled with whatever legislation is produced by the Senate.
The effort would represent Congress’s fourth major attempt to stimulate the economy since the recession began in December 2007. Lawmakers have approved more than $1 trillion in stimulus- related initiatives, beginning in February 2008 with a $168 billion plan that sent tax-rebate checks to millions of people. A year ago, lawmakers approved Obama’s $862 billion stimulus package. In November, Congress extended several elements of that plan.

The plan announced yesterday by Senate Majority Leader Leader Harry Reid would will give small businesses more power to write off investment costs, extend the Build America Bonds program that subsidizes interest payments on local government bonds and continue the federal highway construction program through year’s end.
“We have to let the American people know we’re really trying hard to get something done that will create jobs immediately,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor. He told reporters the plan had “some good” bipartisan support.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said his members still needed details of the proposal to spend at least $80 billion so they can “understand what they’re being called on to support.”
Democratic lawmakers were still negotiating the measure’s provisions yesterday and it hadn’t been formally introduced.
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama at the White House yesterday to discuss ways to move forward on a jobs bill and reducing the federal budget deficit. Lawmakers are under pressure to boost the economy before this year’s midterm elections, with new emphasis on bipartisanship since the Jan. 19 election Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts ended Democrats’ 60-vote Senate majority that had let them halt delaying tactics in the chamber.