America Has Spoken, Will the GOP Listen?

[babylonsister]

America Has Spoken, Will the GOP Listen?
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on September 22, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT


On Thursday, Congressional Republicans plan to announce their “agenda.” They claim that this agenda is the product of listening to the American people through an online initiative called America Speaks Out – indeed they have hidden the details of their agenda for months claiming that they wanted to give Americans a chance to help guide them. “I would expect the ideas that come out of this Web site and the involvement of our members will lead to ideas that we can attempt to implement today,” said House Republican Leader Boehner during the somewhat bungled unveiling.

We hope so too, particularly since the idea that has drawn the most interest in their job creation section with overwhelmingly support is one that President Obama has been pushing – and Congressional Republicans have been opposing – for years:

Stop the outsourcing of jobs from America to other countries that do not pay taxes into the U.S. and stop the tax breaks that are given to these companies outsourcing.

Here’s a rundown of Congressional Republicans’ voting record on this idea:

* House Republicans Voted Against the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act: To help create or save more than 1 million American jobs and prevent corporations from shipping jobs overseas and sticking American taxpayers with the bill. 99% of House Republicans voted no.

* House Republicans Voted Against the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act: To clamp down on tax provisions that are strong incentives for U.S. corporations that shift jobs or profits offshore, either through accounting gimmicks or by moving actual operations, and to provide for state aid to protect 161,000 teacher jobs and 158,000 other jobs for police, firefighters and in the private sector. 99% of House Republicans voted no.

* House Republicans Voted Against the Small Business Tax Relief Act: To eliminate certain “1099” reporting requirements for small businesses paid for by ending tax breaks that encourage companies to move American jobs overseas. 99% of House Republicans voted no.

* House Republicans Voted Against the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Act: To create jobs with bipartisan provisions to spur investment in local rebuilding projects and a range of bipartisan proposals to help our small businesses grow, hire and continue to fuel our economy – including a provision to Save American Jobs by cracking down on foreign tax haven corporations that are using the U.S. tax treaty network to dodge U.S. taxes. 98% of House Republicans voted no.

* House Republicans Voted Against the HIRE Act: To give small businesses tax incentives to hire jobless Americans estimated to create 300,000 American jobs. This bill included provisions to crack down on offshore accounts for corporations and the wealthy and to delay until 2020 a tax break that would let U.S. multinational companies that have shipped jobs overseas reduce their U.S. taxes by deducting more of their worldwide interest income against their U.S. income. 97% of House Republicans voted no.

As recently as last month, House Republican Leader Boehner attacked the President and Democratic leaders in Congress for closing one of the most egregious loopholes that rewarded companies creating jobs overseas. Mr. Boehner went out of his way to attack the very idea that his supporters have now apparently identified as the economic priority they’re most interested in.

more...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/22/america-has-spoken-will-gop-listen

[WillParkinson]

1. No, they won't...

They think the know better than the citizens what this country needs. Or is that just what their pocketbooks need?

[DCKit]

2. "Or is that just what their pocketbooks need?"

The problem is, House and Senate seats are just too damn inexpensive. The return on investment for the corporations is a no-brainer and too many politicians are willing to sell U.S. out just to gain or keep those positions.

We need a better campaign finance structure.