Obama pushes on jobs bill while Congress goes slow

[alp227]

President Obama has been touring the country, repeating a message for Congress about his jobs plan: “Pass this bill.” On Tuesday, in Denver, he said it seven times.

It still doesn’t seem to be working.

On Capitol Hill, the Republican-led House appears unlikely to take up Obama’s bill soon — if ever. Party leaders want to break up his ideas and farm them out to slow-moving committees for consideration.

And even in the Democratic-led Senate, party leaders have shown little urgency about taking up Obama’s “American Jobs Act.” On Thursday, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), said the leadership simply lacked the votes to pass it.

“Not at the moment, I don’t think we do,” Durbin told WLS radio in Chicago. “But, uh, we can work on it.”

(...)

But Obama, for now, seems to have chosen an aggressive strategy — pushing new ideas, and calling out those who oppose him. Senate Democrats, on the other hand, have focused on local concerns, and they avoid votes that might inflame voters who have tilted rightward.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-pushes-on-jobs-bill-while-congress-goes-slow/2011/09/30/gIQA3lxUAL_story.html

[provis99]

1. well, Obama deserves kudos for finally trying.

I wish he was like this three years ago.

[krawhitham]

2. He will run against the do nothing congress, not against Mitt