R i g h t a r d i a: 212th Congress is a mess on day 68

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

212th Congress is a mess on day 68

The symbol of the 212th Congress

After two months in office with no action to create jobs and plans that would destroy over 700,000 of them, House Republicans have turned over a new leaf on their job creation efforts.

According to Roll Call Newspaper, House Republican "leaders have recently begun inserting the word 'jobs' into talking points, floor statements and press conferences."

Last week, House Republicans continued their 10th straight week without focusing on creating jobs -- this time they focused on divisive investigations.

According to the running clock at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s website, http://www.whenarethejobs.com/, Republicans have done nothing to create jobs for 68 days, 17 hours, and 1 minute.

Months have rolled by and the American people are getting tired of waiting for the Republican majority to focus on creating jobs yet today they answered that call with a pledge to say ‘jobs’ as often as they can,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “House Republicans’ answer to the running 68 day clock without any effort to create jobs is to start using the word more often. It may come as a shock to the House Republican leadership, but they can’t create jobs just by talking about them. The clock continues to tick away as House Republicans push an agenda that would make the problem worse and try to spin their way out of it.

68 Days of the House Republicans’ Jobless Agenda

Jobs Spin. “GOP leaders have recently begun inserting the word “jobs” into talking points, floor statements and press conferences.” [Roll Call, 3/13/11]

GOP spending plan would cost 700,000 jobs, new report says. “A Republican plan to sharply cut federal spending this year would destroy 700,000 jobs through 2012, according to an independent economic analysis set for release Monday.” Mark Zandi was an economic advisor to Presidential candidate John McCain in his 2008 campaign. [Washington Post, 2/28/11; Wall Street Journal, 7/13/2007]

Republicans focus on everything but job creation. “Republicans won sweeping victories last November by taunting Democrats with "Where are the jobs?" Democrats are now throwing those taunts back, saying it's Republicans who will knock thousands of Americans out of work with their demands for deep cuts in federal spending. The attacks have caught Republicans at an awkward moment, as they shift their chief emphasis from creating jobs to reducing the size of the government and its deficits.” [AP, 2/17/11]

Republican Leadership Dismisses Job Losses. At a press conference earlier this week, House Speaker John Boehner said “so be it” in response to questions about the potential job losses from the draconian cuts proposed in the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government. [TPM, 2/15/11]

Republicans Broke Pledge to Cut Budget. In their Pledge to America, Republicans pledged to cut at least $100 billion in their first year. In fact, Republicans ended up offering cuts of only $32 billion from agency budgets. [A Pledge to America, 9/22/10; Washington Post, 2/03/11]

Republicans Ignored Their Own Rules Package. Republicans ignored their recently adopted rules package, which included a requirement that all legislation be made publicly available three business days before a vote. [CQ Today, 1/07/11]

Rightardia ran a Gallup article that showed congressional approval at 18 per cent. Zogby shows Congress as a whole continued to slip, and its approval is now at 25%, a seven-point drop since Feb. 24.