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| Cincinnati Isn’t Convinced, Mr. President Bridge Is ‘Not Shovel Ready’ |
The House last night rejected 195-230 a continuing Resolution (C.R.) to fund the government through Nov. 18th. The current fiscal year, FY 2011, ends September 30th. Republicans fiscal conservative felt spent too much, and that most Democrats felt short-changed disaster relief and was paid for by cutting a program to enable U.S. automakers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. However, The NY Times is reporting that "The House took emergency steps to clear the way for a quick vote on a new measure. It was unclear whether House leaders would attempt to win over more Republicans, many of whom want even more short-term cuts in spending than those agreed to last summer as part of a deal to lift the debt ceiling, or more Democrats, who want even higher levels of disaster aid without the spending cuts to pay for it. " Both House Speaker Boehner and Senate majority Leader Reid believe a Government shutdown can be avoided.
Yesterday, The House Judiciary Committee passed the Legal Workforce Act which mandated using E-Verify for all employers in the United States. This comprehensive bill to verify workers as being legally in the United States was introduced by Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX). The bill now goes to the full House for a vote and will most likely have a tough time in the Senate. It is sure to be opposed by U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis who has signed “partnerships” agreements with other countries. Solis said during a recent signing ceremony, “No matter how you got here or how long you plan to stay, you have certain rights. You have the right to be safe and in a healthy workplace and the right to a legal wage. We gather here today to strengthen our shared commitment to protect the labor rights of migrant workers in the United States."
The House Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved and sent the full House the Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force Act of 2011 which honors slain Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jaime Zapata and directs $102 million to law enforcement to law enforcement groups to crack down on organized crime on the U.S.-Mexico border. The committee for the Act to be part of the final bill authorizing spending for the Department of Homeland Security later this year.
The Senate resumes consideration of H.R. 2832, the Generalized System of Preferences Act, a trade promotion bill that will be the vehicle for renewing Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). Later today, the Senate will vote on a series of 3 amendments to the bill, followed by a vote on the Reid substitute amendment, containing the TAA reauthorization language, and a vote on final passage.
The first vote will be on an amendment from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to narrow TAA eligibility only to workers impacted by free trade agreements. The second will be on an amendment from Sen. John Thune (R-SD) requiring a report on the economic impact of trade deals that have been agreed to but not approved by Congress. The third will be on an amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) directing the president to sell F-16C & D fighters to Taiwan to support that nation.
Yesterday, the Senate rejected 4 amendments to H.R. 2832. An amendment from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to delay TAA renewal until the 3 pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama were passed failed by a vote of 44-54. An amendment from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to authorize TAA for two years, but only at reduced 2002 funding levels, failed 46-53. A second Hatch amendment to narrow the eligibility for TAA failed 40-57. And an amendment from Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to terminate a TAA program for certain companies failed 43-54.
Reuters reports today, “A dilapidated bridge over the Ohio River becomes the latest prop in President Barack Obama's push for jobs on Thursday as he takes a campaign for more spending into the backyard of his political foes. The Brent Spence Bridge, connecting the home states of the two top Republicans in Congress, is a vital traffic route between northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Republicans have mocked Obama's trip as political theater. But the 830-foot bridge has been officially designated as ‘functionally obsolete’ and Obama hopes it will help him illustrate why Congress should back billions of dollars in job-creating infrastructure investment.”
Fox 19 in Ohio published a story titled, “Reality Check: Someone needs to tell the President the Brent Spence Bridge is not shovel ready.” The story points out, “Even if 100 percent of the funding was in place, meaning the Feds picked up the tab for the entire project, the Brent Spence project is still, at minimum, 4 years away from breaking ground. That is because federal environmental studies are still not complete. . . . Remember when the President referred to the last stimulus projects saying they ‘weren't as shovel ready as he had hoped?’ Well, this may be another example of the same problem. A bridge that needs replacement but has more than just a funding problem.” Even former Democrat Ohio Governor Ted Strickland agreed on Fox and Friends this morning when Gretchen Carlson noted that people say “that bridge does not even qualify as a shovel ready project.”
The ARRA News Service has posted a detailed list of comments by the local Cincinnati papers and TV stations and others at Cincinnati Isn’t Convinced, Mr. President - Bridge Is ‘Not Shovel Ready’
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was rightly a little testy regarding the President's misrepresentations to the people Ohio and Kentucky, “[T]he purpose of this visit is clear: The President’s plan is to go out to this bridge and say that if only lawmakers in Washington would pass his second stimulus bill ‘right away’, then bridges like this one would get fixed — and that the only thing standing in the way of repairing them is people like me.”
“First, I find it hard to take the President’s message all that seriously when his own Communications Director is over at the White House telling people he’s no longer interested in legislative compromise; and when the leaders of the President’s own party in Congress are treating this bill like an afterthought. . . .
"Second, . . . the people of Kentucky and Ohio have heard this kind of thing before. Don’t forget: the President made the same promises when he was selling his first stimulus. . . . [T]wo and a half years later, what do we have to show for it: politically-connected companies like Solyndra ended up with hundreds of millions in taxpayer-backed money, and bridges like the one the President’s at today still need to be fixed.
“Mr. President, . . . think about ways to actually help the people of Kentucky and Ohio, instead of how you can use their roads and bridges as a backdrop for making a political point.”
Tags: Barack Obama, Stimulus tour, Bridge, Not shovel ready, US House, e-verify, border security, continuing resolution, US Senate, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Washington, D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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