Martin Takes on Kit Bond & Tea Party Darling for Support of Jobs Bill
UPDATE: Roy Blunt says he will vote against the jobs bill.
In a series of tweets this morning (here, here and here), Ed Martin is criticizing GOP Senators Kit Bond, Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and George Voinovich for their support of a new bipartisan job creation package.
The bill, which passed a procedural vote the Senate yesterday 62-30 , includes a number of job creation measures that earned it bipartisan support.
The bill's centerpiece is a $13 billion program allowing companies to avoid paying Social Security taxes for the remainder of 2010 on new hires who have been unemployed for at least 60 days. Employers would also receive a $1,000 tax credit for each new worker who stays on the job for at least a year. Democrats tout the plan as a simple way to create tens of thousands of new jobs, though some experts dismiss it as too narrow to make a significant dent in the nation's unemployment rate.
The jobs bill also includes a one-year reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund, a provision allowing companies to write off equipment purchases as business expenses, and an expansion of the Build America Bonds program, which helps state and local governments finance infrastructure projects.
Martin doesn't like it, and complains about an unspecificied loss of "freedom" in explaining his opposition:
- RE Jobs Bill: If 1 trillion dollars in stimulus didn't bring jobs, why would 15 billion?
- Congress wants to pick winners and losers. Business needs freedom to thrive
- Businesses do not need temporary cuts "targeted" to what Congress wants
Do Roy Blunt and the rest of the Congressional delegation think Bond made a similar mistake?
