Senate GOP blocks Obama jobs agenda

WASHINGTON -- Republicans in the Senate dealt President Barack Obama the third in a string of defeats on his stimulus-style jobs agenda Thursday, blocking a $60-billion measure for building and repairing infrastructure such as roads and rail lines.

Supporters of the measure said it would have created tens of thousands of construction jobs and lifted the still-struggling economy. But Republicans unanimously opposed it for its tax surcharge on the wealthy and spending totals they said were too high.

The 51-49 vote fell well short of the 60 votes required under Senate procedures to start work on the bill. Every Republican opposed the president, as did Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska and former Democrat Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who still aligns himself with the party.

Obama's loss was anything but a surprise, but the White House and its Democratic allies continue to press popular ideas from Obama's jobs package in what Republicans say is nothing more than a bare-knuckle attempt to gain a political edge by invoking the mantra of jobs but doing little to seek compromise.

"The truth is, Democrats are more interested in building a campaign message than in rebuilding roads and bridges," said Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "And frankly, the American people deserve a lot better than that."

That drew this rejoinder about the Republicans from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada: "Their goal is to do everything they can to drag down this economy, to do anything they can to focus attention negatively on the president of the United States in hopes that he can get my job, perhaps, and that President Obama will be defeated. So let's not talk about campaign speeches here on the Senate floor. Let's talk about reality."

After Republicans blocked Obama's infrastructure plan, the president's Democratic allies immediately killed a competing GOP infrastructure plan that would have extended existing highway and transit spending programs and paid for the spending with a $40-billion cut in unspent funding for other domestic programs. The White House opposed the measure over its spending cuts and provisions that would block recent clean air rules and make it harder for the administration to issue new rules.