Senate Action Exposes Real GOP Jobs Position

Last Thursday July 19, Republicans in the Senate used a filibuster to stop a jobs bill that would have given companies tax incentives to return outsourced jobs back to this country.  In so doing they once again made perfectly clear not only their intent to oppose any worthwhile legislation that might improve the economy (and President Obama's re-election prospects) before the election, but also their utter indifference to the plight of the American worker.

The "Bring Jobs Home Act" was introduced by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan.)  Under current law companies can deduct as a business expense all costs associated with outsourcing jobs to foreign countries.  In effect, American taxpayers are subsidizing the shipping of their own jobs overseas.  The bill would have removed this tax incentive to move U.S. jobs to foreign countries.  It would have kept the tax deduction for all costs associated with bringing outsourced jobs back to the United States and additionally have granted a 20% tax credit on top of those costs as an extra incentive.

The bill was actually approved by a solid majority, 56-42, but under the arcane rules of the Senate it requires 60 votes to "end debate" and move legislation to the floor for a vote.  Stabenow's Act received unanimous support from Democratic Senators.  It makes so much sense it even induced four Republicans to defy their leaders and vote for it.  Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine were joined by Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Dean Heller of Nevada in voting to give companies a federal incentive to create jobs in America rather than send them to foreigners.  The rest of their GOP colleagues felt that election year politics and subservience to business interests rather than the average worker were greater priorities.

Earlier in the week Republican Senators also blocked the Disclose Act, which would have required transparency and the disclosure of any contribution over $10,000 to a campaign or a PAC.  For the remaining 100 days of this campaign we will hear a lot of rhetoric from the Republican side about their commitment to jobs.  Their actions, however, belie such talk.  Rather than voting to protect American jobs, they vote to offshore them.  They do this in the service of corporate interests who want taxpayer money to pay them to do so.  And they don't want the American people to know that's where the bulk of their money is coming from.