Who are the Job Killers?

The Republicans in the United States House of Representatives are quick to label everything that President Obama proposes as “Job Killing”: job killing health care bill; job killing tax increases (even though the President has not suggested any tax increases for this year); job killing budget proposals; etc.

So what is the Republican House record for job creation? Minus a couple of million.

According to Mark Zandi, an economist for Moody’s, the Paul Ryan budget that passed the House will cost 700,000 jobs by the end of 2012, and 1.7 million by 2014; and, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that the Ryan budget would, if enacted, cost between two and three million jobs over the next five years.

The Center for American Progress estimates that HR2, which would repeal the 2010 health care act if it became law, would cost 400,000 jobs; HR 1745 (euphemistically titled the “Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Services Act of 2011) would cut 320,000 jobs.

How many bills have passed the House that actually create jobs? None.

There are a couple of other government job eliminators that are part of the Republican anti-government hysteria: House Bill 1094 abolishes all Federal Reserve Banks and HR 25 proposes to disband and defund the Internal Revenue Service.

These people are dangerous. How can anyone— especially the Republican leadership— condone their behavior and let them have their way?

Cap with Intended (but unspoken) Consequences

The Republicans are insisting that two-thirds of both houses of Congress pass and send to the states a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution before the debt-limit ceiling is raised.

This is preposterous for two reasons: It is not possible to get two-thirds of either house to pass such a constitutional amendment in the time remaining (if ever); and secondly, it is an atrocious idea. Imagine such a limit on the family budget. Most people would not be eligible to receive a mortgage, a car loan, or college loans.

And there is more than a little duplicity involved: the cap for federal spending is set at 18% of the Gross Domestic Product in the bill that passed the House.  The last time it was this low was in the mid 1960s— before Medicare was enacted. This is an underhanded, back-door way of  defunding one of the nation’s most important social insurance programs… thus accomplishing the 40-year Republican goal of abolishing Medicare.

Their bill also locks in tax breaks for the wealthy. Again, how can anyone— especially the Republican leadership— give these ideologues control of American policy?