Reporting from Washington— The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved provisions of President Obama's jobs plan that found rare bipartisan appeal, including a proposal to give companies tax credits for hiring unemployed military veterans.
The veterans package proved too irresistible for Republicans to block, as they have most other pieces of Obama's $447-billion jobs package.
The 94-1 vote on the eve of Veterans Day came as the jobless rate among Iraq and Afghanistan vets remains in double digits, higher than the 9% national unemployment rate.
Obama's proposal was bolstered by attaching a popular House-passed bill that would provide job training for vets.
Leaders tacked the veterans legislation onto another popular provision of Obama's proposal — the repeal of a business tax, set to take effect in 2013, on companies that contract with the government.
The overall package sailed through the Senate, 95 to 0. Both proposals now go to the GOP-led House, which is expected to give its approval, possibly next week.
Thursday's votes offered a reprieve in the bipartisan war over Obama's jobs package, which has run into strong resistance from the GOP in Congress. Senate Republicans have stood unified in their opposition to most of Obama's proposal, and the House has agreed to consider only certain provisions.
Why the applause for this? It's a symbolic measure that while it sounds good and all, does really nothing. A temporary tax credit, with a larger tax looming after this year or next for that hire, does really nothing to encourage more hiring. The only thing this does is to give vets who may be in an absolute tie with another non-vet applicant a very slight advantage, and that's even if the hiring manager is even aware of or concerned with the tax credit situation. I've hired plenty of people in my life and not once have I stopped to think about the tax implications of the candidates.
All this was was both parties trying to get the other one to block something for veterans and using Veteran's Day as a good time to get bad press on the other party. In the end, just a political game that sounds great but does really nothing of note. If this is the best we can do then we're surely in trouble, as if we didn't know that already.
