It looks like the House is about to get out in front of the Senate in addressing the most urgent priority facing most Americans: creating jobs. Washington Post:
House shifts focus to 'jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs'
By Lori Montgomery
Now that they've finished their health-care bill, House leaders are turning their attention to the soaring unemployment rate. But don't look for another economic stimulus package. This time, House leaders said, they want to put together a "jobs bill."
"It's jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs," Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.), the No. 4 Democrat in the House, said shortly before convening a meeting of rank-and-file lawmakers late Monday. "Members of this caucus feel ... that a jobless recovery is just simply unacceptable to us. This caucus, every caucus going forward, is going to be focused on putting Americans back to work."
Senior Democratic aides said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who banished the term "stimulus" two weeks ago, has yet to decide what form such a measure would take. But a number of possibilities are under discussion beyond the safety-net measures so far approved by Congress, including an expanded highway reauthorization bill aimed at generating construction jobs and a variety of hiring incentives for small businesses. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday that House leaders have asked key committee chairmen to offer up proposals that would be compiled into a single larger piece of legislation, with a goal of bringing something to a House vote before Dec. 18, when the House hopes to adjourn for the year.
"I would certainly want to see us move something on jobs before that," Hoyer told reporters at his weekly briefing.
Without doubt, Republicans will oppose a new jobs bill with near unanimity. Michael Steele has already said that any jobs created by infrastructure rebuilding efforts aren't real jobs, but that conservative mindset isn't resonating with voters who can tell the difference between being employed and unemployed.
Polls show notion of a federal jobs bill is overwhelmingly popular, even in the South, even among Republicans. As long as the bill stays focused on creating jobs it will be a huge winner in substantive terms, and given the public's focus on job creation, that means sending the legislation to President Obama's desk early next year will be a great way to start off the 2010 political season.