By Cong. Jim Jordan
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Its become an
all-too-familiar refrain: the House passes a bill only to see Senate Democrats water it down punt or ignore it all together. This time its the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act. So what did the Senate do?
The bill passed last week by the House of Representatives:
- Kept the payroll tax break in place for a full year
- Kept long-term unemployment benefits in place while reducing the maximum time from 99 to 59 weeks and
- Put the Keystone Pipeline back on track.
At the same time
we lowered the caps on future spending and included some good welfare reforms.
So what did the Senate do? They punted proposing a two-month extension of the payroll tax and unemployment payments without spending cuts or reforms.
Then the body that hasnt even passed a budget in almost 1000 days promptly left for vacation.
A two-month extension just means confusion and uncertainty for another two months. Families and businesses dont plan just two
months at a time and neither should Congress.
House Republicans are willing to keep working until this is settled for next year. The Senate should come back from vacation and do its job.
Media Activity
Members of the House work hard to ensure that conservative viewpoints are well-represented in all corners of the media.
House Floor Activity
The following key legislation came through the House of Representatives recently.
Outlook for whats on the horizon? The schedule for the remainder of 2011 remains unclear at this time.
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is Chair of the Republican Study Committee.
