The GOP in the House and Senate, for the better part of a year now, have been promising they would focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs!” If the job of a lawmaker is measured by the laws they make — at least, the bills they create (sponsor) — we now have a good idea of what they really meant. Here is a sampling of the GOP’s “jobs bills.”
S. 460 – Education for All Act of 2011, sponsored by Senator James Risch (R-ID): “A bill to prohibit the Secretary of Education from promulgating or enforcing regulations or guidance regarding gainful employment.”
H.R.828 – Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2011, sponsored by Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT): “To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide that persons having seriously delinquent tax debts shall be ineligible for Federal employment.”
S.124 – Safety for Our Schoolchildren Act of 2011, sponsored by Senator David Vitter (R-LA): “A bill to require all public school employees and those employed in connection with a public school to receive FBI background checks prior to being hired, and for other purposes.”
H.R.245, sponsored by Representative Mike Pence (R-IN): “To amend the Federal Reserve Act to remove the mandate on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee to focus on maximum employment.”
S.20 – American Job Protection Act, sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT): “Repeals provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that require large employers to offer their full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage. Applies the Internal Revenue Code as if such provisions had never been enacted.”
H.R.787 – No Social Security for Illegal Immigrants Act of 2011, sponsored by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA): ” To amend title II of the Social Security Act to exclude from creditable wages and self-employment income wages earned for services by aliens illegally performed in the United States and self-employment income derived from a trade or business illegally conducted in the United States.”
And, of course, repeal of “Obamacare”:
H.R.2 – Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, sponsored by Eric Cantor (RVA), which is the only so-called “jobs bill” that actually passed the House. “Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, which together comprise the major health care reform that was signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. The repeal bill has been estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to increase the federal deficit by $230 billion over the next ten years. Student loan reform legislation that was attached to the reconciliation bill would also be repealed.”