Senate Republicans Oppose Economic Development Administration They Once Supported

WASHINGTON -- Republicans filibustered a reauthorization bill Tuesday of a federal program that many had previously praised as a job creator, saying they would not move forward with the bill without a guarantee for GOP amendments.

In a 49 to 51 vote, Senate Republicans blocked a bill to reauthorize the Economic Development Administration, which provides grants to local projects. The program has drawn fire from Republicans for the projects it supports, with conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) calling the "pet projects" a waste of money.

Four Democrats, Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) also voted against cloture.

"This program too often has used federal dollars to fund pet projects that have little relation to the national interest," DeMint wrote in a June 15 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.

Democrats disagree -- and they are eager to point out that many Republicans once spoke highly of the Economic Development Administration.

"A million jobs, and all we need is a cloture vote," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on the Senate floor before the vote, where she also read from statements Republicans had made in the past in support of the Economic Development Administration. "This bill is a sparkplug. You put in a dollar, you get seven dollars of ... investment. ... I hope our friends will vote with their hearts and look back at their press releases."

DeMint, who called himself a "recovering earmarker," admits that he supported "certain EDA grants in the past." But he does not mention in the op-ed that his office held a workshop about year ago to "highlight competitive funding opportunities available to community businesses and organizations," including the Economic Development Administration.

Other Republicans who opposed cloture spoke highly of the agency in the past, among them Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who said in March 2010 that funds from an EDA grant "would pave the way for the creation of new jobs and business opportunities, which will strengthen the region's economy," according to a local East Texas NBC news affiliate.

Cornyn said on Tuesday he planned to vote against cloture, referencing a White House "statement of administration policy" from June 7 in support of the bill that also says the bill authorizes more spending than the president requested.

"The Administration believes that the need for smart investments that help America win the future must be balanced with the need to control spending and reduce the deficit," the statement says.

Cornyn echoed the statement, saying the bill spends too much money.

"It seems to me it's going in the wrong direction at a time when we're broke," he told HuffPost.

The EDA is the latest congressional attempt at job creation to fall victim to creeping deficit concerns that rest on the idea of the country's insolvency. But CIA data show the United States is one of the world's richest countries, with one of the lowest tax rates.

Mostly, though, Republicans said they would not support cloture because Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is not allowing Republicans to offer amendments to the bill. Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Reid, said the amendments offered were unrelated to jobs.

"This is a jobs bill. If Republicans offered amendments that had anything to do with creating jobs, we would have been happy to accommodate them. But instead, Republicans filed over 80 amendments dealing with everything from light bulbs to the lesser prairie chicken to a sand dune lizard -- everything except jobs."

Although he praised EDA projects in the past, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he would not support cloture because the GOP must maintain its leverage.

"If you make an agreement you've got to work to keep the agreement," he told HuffPost. "That's about the only leverage we have in the minority to get our ideas up."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also said she supported the Economic Development Agency broadly but was unsure whether she would vote for cloture. She praised the program in April for "creating good jobs" and helping to "encourage further business growth," the Bangor Daily News reported.

Collins stood behind her support of the program, but told HuffPost she still might not support the bill.

"I have seen first hand that it has led to the creation of jobs in my home state and has been a catalyst for private sector investment," Collins told HuffPost. "Having said that, I want to make sure there are amendments to the bill."

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that two Democrats voted against cloture; it has been corrected to reflect that four Democrats voted against the bill.

Comments

[YanaT]

12:13 PM on 06/27/2011

Even the President's statement said "However, the bill would authorize spending levels higher than those requested by the President’s Budget, and the Administration believes that the need for smart investments that help America win the future must be balanced with the need to control spending and reduce the deficit." There were Dems who voted with the cloture, in order to control spending.

[Michele Macdonald]

11:56 AM on 06/25/2011

GOP doesn't want jobs created on the Dems watch, I guess even if it would benefit their own constituents..wouldn't look good for the GOP going into 2012 election...they want to use it as their key complaint...how sad that is.

[panamarine]

01:47 PM on 06/23/2011

Now I believe Michelle Bachmann's famous quote that Washington is full of Gangstas. (The Gangsta government she called it). Well she has to look at her OWN party. This type of blatant denial and reneging on things that's good for the economy by these Republicans is repugnant! Only to make the job market bleak and by extension make Obama's Administration look bad on the economy. They are doing everything in their power to accomplish a bad economy---then to blame it on OBAMA. Their dirty little game has been known, but this is the last straw, the ought to be replaced forthwith. They are a hindrance to the economy and jobs we so desperately need. Throw the bums (Rhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/senate-republicans-oppose-economic-development-administration_n_881547.html#epublicans) out!

[Voivode Vlad]

11:06 PM on 06/22/2011

What do these dates have in common: March 31, 2010, June 18, 2010, July 29, 2010, July 31, 2010, August 13, 2010, September 28, 2010, February 11, 2011, April 13, 2011, June 22, 2011? Those are all dates on which Republicans succeeded in blocking legislation that would have created jobs for the American workforce. Please remember this in the next elections...the Republicans are actively working against job creation and economic improvement in order to push their extreme social agenda.

[p47nandmosquito]

04:04 PM on 06/22/2011

Amazing how when the Republicans do what everyone's known they were going to do ever since they got elected, none of their supporters can defend it. But you just know that they're all going to be on the next post swearing up and down that Republicans are the only ones who will do anything right for the country.

[Veganie]

01:19 PM on 06/22/2011

Liberals get information from a variety of sources GOP doesn't like that.

[Eileen Left]

01:11 PM on 06/22/2011

If republicans support any legislation to reduce unemployment or help the economy, how will they get reelected? They've already told us that their number one priority is to make Obama a one term president, not helping average Americans or the economy. This should be no surprise. I expect them to fight, spin and block any economic recovery, at all costs, from now until the presidential election.

[WHEELS221]

01:01 PM on 06/22/2011

FLIP>>.FLOP>>>>...FLIP>>>>>>>>....FLOP

[Karma2U]

12:48 PM on 06/22/2011

The GOP is against everything that is good for the people. They work only for the top1%. They always have and they always will.

[dcflush]

12:35 PM on 06/22/2011

The Republican party and those that vote Republican make me sick. I defended them to friends at times, as recently as five years ago and am now ashamed of myself for doing so.

They have become a reprehensible group that cares little, if at all, for the well-being of the Nation.

[miketothad]

06:36 PM on 06/22/2011

They always have been. Glad you've learned.

[ThisWorldBlows]

12:34 PM on 06/22/2011

Republicans will fight tooth and nail to prevent any action that improves conditions in America while Obama is in office and Dems have control of the Senate. They would have nothing to campaign on since they offer no solutions and just spit a bunch of propaganda about how the other side has failed America.

[arkymorgan]

12:28 PM on 06/22/2011

The GOP is fond of throwing out the 'Why do you hate America?' soundbite whenever someone proposes or espouses something they can't explain opposing.

My question to them is: 'Why do you hate Americans?'

[dch58]

12:26 PM on 06/22/2011

People need to wake up and realize that these people are not interested in governing or solving the nation's problems. They are only interested in getting themselves and people who think like them elected, nothing more. For them it's a game - at our expense.

[HeadlessHessian]

12:05 PM on 06/22/2011

Elise....the title of your article should just stop with the first three words. That says it all.

[Kiffanik]

12:01 PM on 06/22/2011

Well, the party of "jobs, jobs, jobs" did admit earlier this year that they didn't actually have a plan to create jobs, and Boehner has admitted if the cuts they want to make to fund what they want to fund effects job creation, so be it. I say we just let them have it, let's default on our debt since most of it is Republican debt anyway (66 out of 74 debt ceiling raises), then next year let's give them whatever President they want to finish it off. If the middle class starts saving now, we might just be able to survive the onslaught. Sometimes you have to give uninformed people what they think they want because they don't want what they need.

[slippery pete]

12:33 PM on 06/22/2011

Amen my friend. I couldn't agree more. Let's just finish this thing off. And it has to be done with the Republicans completely in charge. There will STILL be people who blame the collapse on
the Dems even though they were nowhere near it, but when all is said and done, that will be a very small majority.