Senate Republicans announced on Tuesday that they plan to filibuster President Obama’s “American Jobs Act” which aims to allow teachers to keep their jobs and extends federal unemployment benefits to nearly 5 million out of work Americans.
Speaking about the bill Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said not a single Republican will vote yes on the bill that would help put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work while rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.
With 60 votes needed and only 53- Senate seats held by Democrats the bill will likely fall short after a Republican filibuster.
Among the acts biggest goals was to create 2 million jobs while preventing 280,000 teachers from losing their employment. The American Jobs Act also aimed to extended Federally funded unemployment which was set to expire in January and which would leave nearly 5 million Americans without benefits as their state based unemployment insurance begins to run out.
The biggest part of the bill sets out to improve our crumbling infrastructure which includes highways, transit, airports, rail, bridges, ports, schools, energy and communications infrastructures. Over the last several decades the U.S. has watched as a once mighty infrastructure has fallen into disrepair.
The Act would also charge millionaires with a 5.6 percent surtax which Republicans are adamantly against supporting.
Do you think the American Jobs Act should be voted into law or does more need to be done with the proposal before it passes through all branches of the U.S. Government?
