Senate GOP kills measure to curb job 'outsourcing'
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) Senate Republicans on Thursday killed a measure backed by President Barack Obama that would encourage companies to bring overseas jobs back to the United States.
The measure being pressed by Obama's Democratic allies is rich with political symbolism, but whether it would have had much practical impact on decisions by companies to "outsource" jobs to lower-wage countries is open to question.
¬snip¬
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said the legislation "asks whether we should continue to reward and incentivize American businesses to send jobs overseas to low-wage countries or create incentives for them to bring the jobs back home."
¬snip¬
"We need to be exporting our products, not our jobs," said Stabenow. "Instead of giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, we need to be cutting taxes for U.S. companies that create jobs in America."
Thursday vote was a precursor to debate next week on extending the Bush-era tax cuts. Most Democrats appear to be sticking with Obama's position that tax rates on family income exceeding $250,000 should return to Clinton-era levels, with the top rate increasing from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. Republicans want a full one-year extension of all the current rates.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/article/Senate-GOP-kills-measure-to-curb-job-outsourcing-3720216.php
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Emphasis on "COULD".
RedStateLiberal
(1,374 posts)and too many political games in Washington keep anything from getting done.
I'm so sick of seeing legislation fail with a majority vote in the Senate. Filibuster reform!
maindawg
(1,151 posts)I read an article last month that talked about this. Harry Reid stated that he was sorry they hadn't done this already . He said that it can only be done on the first day of the session. He promised to enact this reform on the first day of the next session in jan.
benld74
(9,904 posts)if jobs brought back, profits decrease, ceo salary drops, less $$ donated to gop.
damn that was too easy.
aquart
(69,014 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)agreement negotiations.
He's the head of his Administration. He could, without the approval of the Senate Republicans, order his underlings in the Administration to stop negotiating for terms in the latest let's-send-even-more-jobs-to-foreign-countries "free-trade" agreement.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/obama-trade-document-leak_n_1592593.html
Obama, of course, has only signed three "free-trade" agreements so far:
2011 - Panama - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Colombia - United States Trade Promotion Agreement
2011 - Republic of Korea (South Korea) - United States Free Trade Agreement
In 1994, NAFTA was signed by Clinton (after Bush I could not get sufficient Senate Democratic votes during his term).
The other job-transferring "free-trade" agreements were signed by Bush II.
2001 - Jordan United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Chile - United States Free Trade Agreement
2004 - Singapore United States Free Trade Agreement
2005 - Dominican RepublicCentral America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA; incl. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic)
2006 - Bahrain United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Morocco - United States Free Trade Agreement
2006 - Oman United States Free Trade Agreement
2007 - Peru United States Trade Promotion Agreement
ProgressiveEconomist
(5,818 posts)When you consider that Herb Kohl (D-WI) did not vote, Democrats need only 3 more Republicans to switch from NO to YES to get cloture and pass the bill.
Today, Scott Brown R MA, Susan Collins R ME, Dean Heller R NV, and Olympia J. Snowe R ME voted YES. With a YES from Mark Kirk (R-IL), who did not vote today, only two more Republicans would be needed.
Richard Lugar (R-IN) is a longtime "moderate" who's leaving the Senate this year. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) are up for re-election this year. And John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), and Tom Coburn (R-OK) are high-profile pragmatists who eventually might get tired of repeatedly explaining votes in favor of outsourcing.
"Yes 56 No 42 S.3364 On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed S. 3364 A bill to provide an incentive for businesses to bring jobs back to America. Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected in the Senate by 4 votes
From http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/senate/2/181
Senate Vote 181 - S.3364: On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed S. 3364
On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed S. 3364
Bring Jobs Home Act
Sponsor: Debbie Stabenow
Introduced: July 9, 2012
Considered by President:
Result: Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected by a margin of 4 votes
Date of Vote: July 19, 2012
Time of Vote: 2:15 p.m.
Roll Call Number: 181
Yes Votes (56), including 4 Republicans:
Scott Brown R MA
Susan Collins R ME
Dean Heller R NV
Olympia J. Snowe R ME
No Votes (42 Republicans)
Did Not Vote (2)
Mark Steven Kirk R IL
Herb Kohl D WI