US Senate Blocks Money for Teachers

Nine days after President Obama’s $447 billion jobs package was blocked in the U.S. Senate, one of the plan’s key components — which would provide $35 billion to states and local governments to hire teachers and first responders — suffered the same fate late Thursday. All 47 Republicans voted against allowing the bill to proceed to a full debate, arguing that temporary stimulus dollars for state and local government would do little to bolster the private sector.

Republicans also opposed imposing a 0.5 percent surtax on million-dollar incomes to pay for the aid, as Democrats proposed. They contended that inclusion of a tax increase signaled that the vote was intended as a campaign tool and was not a serious effort to find bipartisan agreement on spurring job growth. Under the rules of the Senate, 60 votes were needed to continue toward action on the bill.

The vote concluded a week-long whirlwind of rallies and speeches to promote the jobs legislation. Obama barnstormed for the bill on a bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia, and Senate Democrats rallied with teachers and firefighters at the Capitol.

Democrats said they could not accept paying for the jobs proposal by reducing spending elsewhere, as the GOP urged. Republicans countered that the opposition proved that Democrats were willing to scuttle parts of Obama’s jobs proposal that enjoyed Republican support to avoid weakening their narrative of GOP obstinacy.

Twice before Congress has approved assistance for states, which were slashing their budgets because of declining tax revenue in the economic downturn. Economists say propping up state and local government budgets has slowed public-sector job losses, but GOP leaders counter that it has failed to spark a full economic recovery.