Obama Jobs Plan Could Prove Costly

After weeks of hype, President Obama finally unveiled his jobs plan in an address to a joint session of Congress. The speech comes on the heels of an August employment report that indicated zero percent job growth. This is the first time this has happened since 1945, which only underscores the failure of the $787 billion stimulus bill passed in 2009 by President Obama and the Pelosi/Reid Democratic Congress.

Americans have made it clear that we will not support a return to the same failed stimulus policies that brought us sustained 9 percent unemployment, but Congress is ready to work with President Obama on proven job creation polices like tax relief and free trade.
Some of the president's proposals in the "American Jobs Act," including transportation construction funding and tax breaks for employers and workers, could earn bipartisan support in Congress but only if they are fiscally responsible. President Obama assured the American people that the $447 billion program would be paid for without adding to the deficit, but this claim seems to rest on budget gimmicks and the dubious assumption that future Congresses will foot the bill. As the Associated Press put it, "the jobs plan is an IOU from a president and lawmakers who may not even be in office down the road when the bills come due."

The president promised to provide a detailed plan to pay for the bill by September 19. Only then can White House claims be fully evaluated, but one thing is certain: House Republicans will oppose any attempt to pay for new programs through tax hikes and more deficit spending.

The president's repeated calls to "pass this jobs bill" gave the impression that Congress has done nothing on this vital issue, when in fact, House Republicans have already passed over 10 jobs bills since January and recently announced plans to pass 10 more. Job creators have repeatedly cited taxes and government overregulation as barriers to their success. House-passed legislation would remove those obstacles and put people back to work.

So far, President Obama and his party have offered nothing but criticism and obstruction in response to these jobs bills, most of which remain stuck in the Democratically controlled Senate. The president's belated plan is not a magic formula for economic recovery, but it is my hope that it signals a new willingness to work with Congress to pass the commonsense, bipartisan solutions the American people expect.