From the Philadelphia Daily News:
“THE WEEKEND snowstorm – which was worse in Washington than here – was blamed for preventing the Senate from meeting its self-imposed deadline to vote on a jobs bill yesterday.
“But the bill wouldn’t have been ready yesterday even if the weather had been balmy. At last report, Democratic leaders were still struggling to scrounge up a Republican vote for a bill that would do half as much as the $154 billion jobs bill passed by the House in December.
“That’s because Democrats still won’t challenge the idea that, in the Senate, a super-majority of 60 votes is needed to pass anything. (That is, unless it’s only one senator who stops the Senate in its tracks. Last week, Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama put a hold on 70 presidential nominations in order to extort pork projects for his home state.)
“We would support postponing the bill until the rules of the Senate were changed – if it weren’t for the fact that 27 million unemployed or underemployed Americans are in deep trouble…
“BOLD INVESTMENTS in infrastructure, green jobs and – yes – temporary public-sector jobs are necessary to prevent what’s looking more and more like a jobless recovery. Once the economy is percolating, the government can ease off spending. By then, tax revenues will increase, and the long-term deficit will shrink.”
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