Jobs Bill Likely to Be Delayed in Senate (Wall Street Journal)
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Republicans on Tuesday balked at Democratic efforts to push an economic stimulus measure through the chamber by the end of the week, making it likely that the Senate will wait at least until the week of Feb. 22 to vote on the roughly $80 billion package.
“It’s a cake that isn’t quite baked yet,” said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), following a Senate nominations vote.
“Not enough of our members have had an opportunity to review it, for a consensus that would permit us to move forward on it that quickly,” he added.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), had announced earlier Tuesday that despite another snowstorm rolling through the Washington region, he hoped to bring the jobs-creation bill for a vote by the end of the week.
Both the Senate and the House are in recess the week of Feb. 15 due to the Presidents’ Day holiday.
Democratic leaders were still weighing procedural options late Tuesday. But with 15 senators absent from Tuesday’s vote because the weekend snowstorm impeded their travel, it didn’t appear that Democrats had the numbers to limit debate and push the bill to a vote without Republicans on their side.
Several Republicans are expected to ultimately support the measure, but senators indicated Tuesday they simply wanted more time.
“I don’t think that’s intellectually honest, and I think people back home would say to you that to respond to it that quickly is not good public policy,” said Sen. George Voinovich (R., Ohio).
A second storm is on its way up the Eastern Seaboard after a blizzard of historic proportions dumped up to two feet of snow on Washington over the weekend. The latest predictions are for another 10 to 20 inches of snow.
If the Senate is closed Wednesday, that would leave only two days for lawmakers to complete work on the jobs package. Given the partisan rancor that has left the Senate gridlocked, that is a very short amount of time for the Democratic majority to push through a major piece of legislation.
Mr. Reid said Tuesday the job-creation measure will include a one-year extension of the highway trust fund, a tax credit for employers that hire new workers, a separate tax break for small-business owners and an expansion of “Build America Bonds” that provide tax-friendly vehicles for state and local governments to raise funds for infrastructure investments.
The Senate bill is likely to expand the tax-credit bond program, which was created by last year’s economic stimulus legislation, so that municipalities could use them for school construction and clean-energy projects, according to a draft version of the bill that was circulating Tuesday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said that members of his party hadn’t seen the Democratic proposal, and that he wanted a chance to discuss it with them.
The bill is also expected to include a one-year extension of expired tax breaks for businesses, including the research tax credit, tax breaks for the film industry and the active financing exception for firms’ overseas profits, according to the draft.
Senators are also folding in provisions to partly offset the bill’s cost. Those include closing a loophole that could allow pulp and paper firms to claim a tax credit for cellulosic ethanol, anti-tax-evasion measures targeting offshore accounts, and a measure to allow some firms to delay payments to defined-benefit pension plans.
The Senate bill could also include a short-term patch to Medicare’s physician payment formula, which must be adjusted in order to avoid steep decreases in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. If the formula remains unchanged, the payment rate would drop by roughly 21% in March.
The length of time of that extension was one of the final details under discussion Tuesday, said people close to negotiations.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) Tuesday said the House won’t hold any votes this week or next, and would return on Feb. 22.
By MARTIN VAUGHAN, PATRICK YOEST And COREY BOLES
Write to Martin Vaughan at martin.vaughan@dowjones.com, Patrick Yoest at patrick.yoest@dowjones.com and Corey Boles at corey.boles@dowjones.com
