Democrats killed the jobs bill! Even though Democrats hold the majority in the senate and could pass any bill under majority rule, they still blame Republicans as obstructionist. Honestly, PALM TO FOREHEAD!
(Reuters) - The Senate defeated President Barack Obama's job-creation package on Tuesday in a sign that Washington is likely too paralyzed to take major steps to spur hiring before the 2012 elections.
The $447 billion package of tax cuts and new spending failed by a vote of 50 to 48, short of the 60 votes it needed to advance in the 100-member Senate. Voting was expected to continue for several hours but would not affect the outcome.
Obama had barnstormed around the country to pressure his Republican opponents to back his top legislative priority, but he did not pick up a single Republican vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Two Democrats, facing re-election in conservative states, also voted against the measure.
Obama said earlier on Tuesday he would try to pass components of the bill individually.
Though Obama's top legislative priority is now dead in Congress, it is certain to have a long afterlife on the campaign trail.
Obama's 2012 re-election chances depend on his ability to spur the sluggish economic recovery and revive the nearly stagnant job market.
The U.S. unemployment rate has been above 9 percent since May and almost 45 percent of the 14 million jobless Americans have been out of work for six months or more.
Republicans, who have lined up behind a job-creation agenda centered around relaxing business regulations, say Obama's jobs bill is essentially a warmed-over version of his 2009 stimulus.
That effort helped to ease the impact of the worst recession since the 1930s, but Republicans point out that it did not keep unemployment below 8 percent as the White House had promised.
"Everyone who votes for this second stimulus will have to answer a simple but important question: why on Earth would you support an approach that we already know won't work?" said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
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