Harry Reid says 'tea party' spending plan will cost U.S. jobs Posted at 7:04 PM ET, 03/ 7/2011 By Felicia Sonmez Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) blasted House Republicans' $61 billion in proposed budget cuts, calling it a "tea party plan" that would cost the country hundreds of thousands of jobs. "The Republican plan we'll vote on tomorrow is the same plan the tea party already pushed through the House," Reid said in a floor speech. "Now it's trying to push it through the Senate. But that plan will cost 700,000 Americans -- including 6,000 Nevadans -- their jobs, and I simply won't support it." Reid's 700,000 figure draws from a projection by Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi last month of the job losses the GOP plan could bring about by the end of next year. Republicans have blasted Zandi's credibility, noting that he incorrectly projected that the administration's stimulus plan would keep unemployment below 8 percent. The Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on House Republican and Senate Democratic budget proposals , and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Democrats on Monday of having "already decided to fold up their tents." It was "ludicrous," McConnell said in his own floor speech, for Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to suggest on "Fox News Sunday" that Democrats' proposal represents the maximum possible amount that could be cut responsibly. "So far this fiscal year, Washington has spent nearly $650 billion more than it's taken in," McConnell said. "That's a little more than $4 billion a day that Washington is spending over and above what it has to spend. And Senator Durbin thinks Democrats in Congress have pushed the limits of responsibility by agreeing to cut $6 billion more for the entire year?" McConnell added that it was his hope that Durbin "was speaking for himself and not for his entire conference." The timing of Tuesday's votes had yet to be decided Monday night. Reid on Monday urged lawmakers to vote in favor of Senate Democrats' plan, which would cut $6.5 billion from current spending levels. But he also openly acknowledged neither that plan nor the House-passed bill would likely make it through the Senate. "We've all done the math and we all know how these votes will turn out: Neither proposal will pass, which means neither will reach the president's desk as written," Reid said. "We'll go back to square one and back to the negotiating table. But tomorrow's votes are still significant. ... They will show us which senators are serious about fortifying our long-term future, and which are more concerned with scoring short-term political points." McConnell, meanwhile, also used his floor remarks to criticize the White House for not taking the first step toward reining in expensive entitlement programs, which the Kentucky Republican called "an even larger threat" than the day-to-day expenses Congress is currently battling over. "In this case, one can't help but wonder if the president who came into office promising change has been changed by the office instead," McConnell said. "I hope I'm wrong about this. But all signs point toward inaction on the part of the White House. And in my view, this would be a tragic failure of leadership." http://voices.washingtonpost.com/2chambers/2011/03/harry_reid_says_tea_party_spen.html
Since Obama's $831 billion economic recovery act didn't create any jobs, doing the opposite must be the thing to do. We should CUT $831 billion TWICE from government spending. Start by selling the Air Force 1 747 and making a Cessna Citation Air Force 1. Then, take away Meechelle's air plane and make her fly commercial unless she is with Barak. Joe Biden can give up his plane and travel by AmTrak since he likes it so much. Next, no more weekly Wednesday parties at the White House on the taxpayer's dime. If Obama wants to have a party, he can pay for it himself. He's not broke. Then on down the line. Cabinet members, departments, programs, etc. etc. Everybody starts cutting costs and letting people go to find a job in the private sector. The economy would roar at the very start of this top-down government austerity action.