Since the House has passed their health care reform bill, the members are now focusing on the number 1 issue in America which is JOBS JOBS JOBS.
They have even created a bipartisan congressional group called the Jobs Now Caucus that consists of 161 members of both parties and counting.
"I hesitate to call it a name, but we’re calling our caucus a ‘jobs caucus,’ " said Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the co-chairwoman of a bipartisan Congressional Jobs Now Caucus, which was announced last week and now has 161 House members.
http://thehill.com/...
As we all know the number one issue in America is jobs. Even the White House knows this for Obama spoke specifically about jobs when he addressed the media yesterday while meeting with his entire cabinet team.
Apparently both the House and the Senate are creating jobs bills and the House will be working on it when they come back from Thanksgiving break.
Right now the House is looking at shifting the rest of the recovery package. Democrats in both chambers are considering new small-business loan programs, hiring tax credits and infrastructure investments. There is also a desire to extend federal unemployment benefits for the coming year.
The House is thinking about shifting the stimulus money to that of just job creation. There is about $600 billion left. They are also looking at using the rest of the TARP money for that as well.
Kaptur, Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), the top three members of the Jobs Now Caucus, have all said they’re open to using some of the roughly $600 billion left in stimulus money for new programs targeted specifically for job creation.
Miller floated the proposal during a news conference last week introducing the caucus. Miller supports redirecting stimulus funds toward more infrastructure projects. When asked about using remaining stimulus money, Rush, the group’s chairman, said that the caucus would consider that idea along with others. Kaptur said she would be open to using any funds left over from the stimulus or the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
I think that is a great idea. The problem with the stimulus package is that there were too much for tax cuts and not enough for infrastructure spending. Shifting the $600 billion left into just job creation for 2010 is the way to go. Also, taking the rest of the TARP bailout and using it for low interest loans for small businesses and for the states should be considered.
The group will begin formally meeting after the Thanksgiving break and plans to come up with its own legislative proposals.
Gene Dodaro, head of the Government Accountability Office, told House members last week that he expects just half of the stimulus money to be paid out by the middle of next year.
Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), another Jobs Now Caucus member, said that new measures need to be focused on jobs alone.
"I think we have to do a better job of directing that money to job creation and not to a bureaucracy," Watson told The Hill.
Apparently President Obama is meeting with Nancy Pelosi today. I am sure they will be talking about Afghanistan and ideas on job creation.