Dear GOP: The American Jobs Act Still Exists

By: Jamelle Bouie | Posted: July 8, 2012 at 12:48 AM

President Barack Obama (Getty Images)

Instead of complaining that Obama lacks a plan for jobs, American Prospect blogger Jamelle Bouie challenges the GOP to take up the American Jobs Act to help unemployment.

Mitt Romney is back to accusing President Obama of having no plan for economic growth:

"The president's policies have not gotten America working again. And the president is going to have to stand up and take responsibility for it. I know he's been planning on going across the country and celebrating what he calls 'forward.' Well, forward doesn't look a lot like forward to the millions and millions of families that are struggling today in this great country. It doesn't have to be this way. The President doesn't have a plan, hasn't proposed any new ideas to get the economy going—just the same old ideas of the past that have failed." [Emphasis added]

The political world has all but forgotten the American Jobs Act, but it remains on the table as Obama's plan for juicing the economy. If passed in full, the Jobs Act would cut payroll taxes for businesses, double the size of the payroll tax cut for individuals, give aid to states to prevent public sector layoffs, and increase infrastructure spending. All together, the Jobs Act would create 1.9 million jobs over the next year.

Read Jamelle Bouie's entire piece at the American Prospect.

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