First chance Congress had to put people to work, they go into recess without acting on it. - @AntDeRosa
POLITICO’s Mike Allen collects this list of job-creation legislation pending before Congress:
- The federal highway program lapses on Sept. 30, and Senate Democrats say a multi-year reauthorization would create more jobs than a shorter extension.
- Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has been reaching out to Republicans to get support for an infrastructure bank (combining federal and private funds for marquee projects), which is supported by Obama, labor and the Chamber of Commerce.
- Extend 2% payroll tax break, which now expires at the end of 2011. Currently covers worker side; Larry Summers and other economists are arguing that it should also go to the employer.
- Other tax breaks, such as making R&D tax credit permanent and renewing clean-energy manufacturing tax credit (Section 48C), which expired at the end of 2010. The aide: “In this political environment, tax credits are going to be the most hospitable options. In the days ahead, we’ll say that the unfinished business of Congress includes these tax breaks that have lapsed.”
- Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) has a veterans’ hiring bill, aimed at providing job training for veterans who return from Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have a bill to promote plug-in electric vehicles.
- Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is pushing clean-energy incentives.
via Business Insider
(via brooklynmutt)