Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times
“Democrats have designed this bill to fail,” the Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. More Photos »
WASHINGTON — In a major setback for President Obama, the Senate on Tuesday blocked consideration of his $447 billion jobs bill, forcing the White House and Congressional Democrats to scramble to salvage parts of the plan, the centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s push to revive a listless economy.
The legislation, announced with fanfare by the president at a joint session of Congress last month, fell short of the 60 needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate.
The vote in favor of advancing the bill on Tuesday was 50 to 49. Two moderate Democrats facing difficult re-election campaigns, Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana, joined a solid phalanx of Republicans in opposition. In addition, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, switched from yes to no so that he could move to reconsider the vote in the future.
Given Mr. Obama’s repeated demands, as he traveled the nation in recent weeks, that Congress pass the bill intact, the Senate’s vote to block the measure represented a significant setback and came after leaders of his own party had adjusted the measure to include a surtax on incomes of more than $1 million to round up additional Democratic votes.
After the vote, the president criticized Republicans for balking at a measure that included initiatives they supported in the past.
“Tonight’s vote is by no means the end of this fight,” the president said in a statement. He added, “In the coming days, members of Congress will have to take a stand on whether they believe we should put teachers, construction workers, police officers and firefighters back on the job.”
Votes on pieces of the bill could begin this month, perhaps as early as next week, Senate Democratic aides said. Party leaders said they needed to consult their caucus before they decided on the timing or chose the provisions to be considered separately.
Several Democratic senators said they might join a handful of Republicans in searching for job-creation proposals that could gain bipartisan support — a formidable challenge in a chamber where comity seems to worsen by the week.
House Republican leaders have said they do not intend to take up the president’s bill as a whole. But they welcomed the signal from the White House that the administration would be open to a piecemeal effort.
The House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, said he hoped “the president will drop his all-or-nothing approach and begin to work with us on areas of commonality,” including initiatives that could promote hiring and economic growth.
“We are willing to take up the things we can agree on,” Mr. Cantor said.
The president’s bill is a mix of public works spending and temporary tax cuts intended to respond to what Mr. Obama calls an economic crisis and an emergency. Senate Democrats tried to make the president’s bill more palatable by adding a surtax of 5.6 percent, starting in 2013, on income in excess of $1 million.
As the Senate moved toward a vote Tuesday, Mr. Reid made an accusation heard with increasing frequency from Democrats: Republicans were opposing the president’s jobs bill because, for political reasons, they wanted the economy to remain in bad shape.
“Republicans think that if the economy improves, it might help President Obama,” Mr. Reid said. “So they root for the economy to fail and oppose every effort to improve it.”
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, replied in kind. “Democrats have designed this bill to fail — they’ve designed their own bill to fail — in the hope that anyone who votes against it will look bad,” Mr. McConnell said. “This whole exercise is a charade that’s meant to give Democrats a political edge in an election that’s 13 months away.”
Senate Democratic leaders said the vote Tuesday showed that a majority of the Senate — 51 senators, including Mr. Reid — wanted to take up the bill.
Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Pittsburgh, and Mark Landler from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 12, 2011
An earlier version of this article used the wrong unit of measurement for the Labor Department’s measure of nonfarm payroll employment. It recorded 131.3 million people in September, compared with 132.8 million in February 2009, not those respective quantities in dollars.
(Page 2 of 2)
Fourteen million Americans are unemployed. The unemployment rate — 9.1 percent for the last three months — is higher than when Mr. Obama took office. And job-creation efforts have fallen short of White House hopes. The Labor Department says that nonfarm payroll employment totaled 131.3 million in September, compared with 132.8 million in February 2009, when Congress approved an economic stimulus bill championed by the president.
The jobs bill calls for $175 billion in new spending on highways and other public works, an extension of jobless benefits and aid to states to prevent teacher layoffs. The bill would provide $272 billion in tax relief for individuals and businesses.
One of the more popular items in the bill is a further cut in payroll taxes, intended to increase take-home pay for 160 million Americans. Congress last year reduced the Social Security payroll tax rate paid by employees to 4.2 percent, from 6.2 percent.
Under Mr. Obama’s proposal, workers would pay 3.1 percent next year, just half the normal rate. The tax is applied to the first $106,800 of wages.
Republicans and some Democrats objected to tax proposals by the president that would have increased taxes for many couples making more than $250,000 a year. Democrats have rallied around the “millionaires’ tax,” a populist proposal that they say highlights their differences with Republicans.
The roll call was held open for more than two hours at the request of Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who flew back to Washington on Tuesday night so she could vote for the jobs bill. She had been in Boston accepting an award from a regional business organization.
Mr. Tester, explaining why he voted against the bill, called it an “an expensive, temporary fix to a problem that needs a big, long-term solution.”
“We should not be sending billions of dollars in bailout aid to states,” Mr. Tester said. “And I can’t support tax gimmicks that do little to create jobs.”
Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, voted to take up the jobs bill, but said that he opposed the measure itself. “I do not believe that we should raise taxes on ordinary earned income,” Mr. Webb said. “The bill should be paid for by other means such as raising the capital gains rate or ending costly subsidies and tax loopholes.”
Senator Joe Manchin III, a West Virginia Democrat who had expressed reservations about the bill, also voted to begin debate and to end what he described as a Republican filibuster.
“But let there be no mistake,” Mr. Manchin said, “if this bill does not change, if it is not improved, if it is not more focused on job creation and more fiscally responsible, I will strongly oppose final passage.”
The White House said it was prepared to negotiate with the handful of Senate Democrats who resisted the bill, including Mr. Manchin, to discuss specific parts that might win their support.
Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Pittsburgh, and Mark Landler from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 12, 2011
An earlier version of this article used the wrong unit of measurement for the Labor Department’s measure of nonfarm payroll employment. It recorded 131.3 million people in September, compared with 132.8 million in February 2009, not those respective quantities in dollars.
“Democrats have designed this bill to fail,” the Republican leader Mitch McConnell said. More Photos »
WASHINGTON — In a major setback for President Obama, the Senate on Tuesday blocked consideration of his $447 billion jobs bill, forcing the White House and Congressional Democrats to scramble to salvage parts of the plan, the centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s push to revive a listless economy.
The legislation, announced with fanfare by the president at a joint session of Congress last month, fell short of the 60 needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate.
The vote in favor of advancing the bill on Tuesday was 50 to 49. Two moderate Democrats facing difficult re-election campaigns, Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana, joined a solid phalanx of Republicans in opposition. In addition, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, switched from yes to no so that he could move to reconsider the vote in the future.
Given Mr. Obama’s repeated demands, as he traveled the nation in recent weeks, that Congress pass the bill intact, the Senate’s vote to block the measure represented a significant setback and came after leaders of his own party had adjusted the measure to include a surtax on incomes of more than $1 million to round up additional Democratic votes.
After the vote, the president criticized Republicans for balking at a measure that included initiatives they supported in the past.
“Tonight’s vote is by no means the end of this fight,” the president said in a statement. He added, “In the coming days, members of Congress will have to take a stand on whether they believe we should put teachers, construction workers, police officers and firefighters back on the job.”
Votes on pieces of the bill could begin this month, perhaps as early as next week, Senate Democratic aides said. Party leaders said they needed to consult their caucus before they decided on the timing or chose the provisions to be considered separately.
Several Democratic senators said they might join a handful of Republicans in searching for job-creation proposals that could gain bipartisan support — a formidable challenge in a chamber where comity seems to worsen by the week.
House Republican leaders have said they do not intend to take up the president’s bill as a whole. But they welcomed the signal from the White House that the administration would be open to a piecemeal effort.
The House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, said he hoped “the president will drop his all-or-nothing approach and begin to work with us on areas of commonality,” including initiatives that could promote hiring and economic growth.
“We are willing to take up the things we can agree on,” Mr. Cantor said.
The president’s bill is a mix of public works spending and temporary tax cuts intended to respond to what Mr. Obama calls an economic crisis and an emergency. Senate Democrats tried to make the president’s bill more palatable by adding a surtax of 5.6 percent, starting in 2013, on income in excess of $1 million.
As the Senate moved toward a vote Tuesday, Mr. Reid made an accusation heard with increasing frequency from Democrats: Republicans were opposing the president’s jobs bill because, for political reasons, they wanted the economy to remain in bad shape.
“Republicans think that if the economy improves, it might help President Obama,” Mr. Reid said. “So they root for the economy to fail and oppose every effort to improve it.”
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, replied in kind. “Democrats have designed this bill to fail — they’ve designed their own bill to fail — in the hope that anyone who votes against it will look bad,” Mr. McConnell said. “This whole exercise is a charade that’s meant to give Democrats a political edge in an election that’s 13 months away.”
Senate Democratic leaders said the vote Tuesday showed that a majority of the Senate — 51 senators, including Mr. Reid — wanted to take up the bill.
Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Pittsburgh, and Mark Landler from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 12, 2011
An earlier version of this article used the wrong unit of measurement for the Labor Department’s measure of nonfarm payroll employment. It recorded 131.3 million people in September, compared with 132.8 million in February 2009, not those respective quantities in dollars.
(Page 2 of 2)
Fourteen million Americans are unemployed. The unemployment rate — 9.1 percent for the last three months — is higher than when Mr. Obama took office. And job-creation efforts have fallen short of White House hopes. The Labor Department says that nonfarm payroll employment totaled 131.3 million in September, compared with 132.8 million in February 2009, when Congress approved an economic stimulus bill championed by the president.
The jobs bill calls for $175 billion in new spending on highways and other public works, an extension of jobless benefits and aid to states to prevent teacher layoffs. The bill would provide $272 billion in tax relief for individuals and businesses.
One of the more popular items in the bill is a further cut in payroll taxes, intended to increase take-home pay for 160 million Americans. Congress last year reduced the Social Security payroll tax rate paid by employees to 4.2 percent, from 6.2 percent.
Under Mr. Obama’s proposal, workers would pay 3.1 percent next year, just half the normal rate. The tax is applied to the first $106,800 of wages.
Republicans and some Democrats objected to tax proposals by the president that would have increased taxes for many couples making more than $250,000 a year. Democrats have rallied around the “millionaires’ tax,” a populist proposal that they say highlights their differences with Republicans.
The roll call was held open for more than two hours at the request of Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who flew back to Washington on Tuesday night so she could vote for the jobs bill. She had been in Boston accepting an award from a regional business organization.
Mr. Tester, explaining why he voted against the bill, called it an “an expensive, temporary fix to a problem that needs a big, long-term solution.”
“We should not be sending billions of dollars in bailout aid to states,” Mr. Tester said. “And I can’t support tax gimmicks that do little to create jobs.”
Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, voted to take up the jobs bill, but said that he opposed the measure itself. “I do not believe that we should raise taxes on ordinary earned income,” Mr. Webb said. “The bill should be paid for by other means such as raising the capital gains rate or ending costly subsidies and tax loopholes.”
Senator Joe Manchin III, a West Virginia Democrat who had expressed reservations about the bill, also voted to begin debate and to end what he described as a Republican filibuster.
“But let there be no mistake,” Mr. Manchin said, “if this bill does not change, if it is not improved, if it is not more focused on job creation and more fiscally responsible, I will strongly oppose final passage.”
The White House said it was prepared to negotiate with the handful of Senate Democrats who resisted the bill, including Mr. Manchin, to discuss specific parts that might win their support.
Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Pittsburgh, and Mark Landler from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 12, 2011
An earlier version of this article used the wrong unit of measurement for the Labor Department’s measure of nonfarm payroll employment. It recorded 131.3 million people in September, compared with 132.8 million in February 2009, not those respective quantities in dollars.
