The U.S. Senate cleared the way last night for a vote this week on a jobs bill that must be just the first step in closing the nation’s staggering 10 million jobs deficit created by years of Wall Street recklessness and failed Bush-era economic policies.
By a 62-30 vote, the Senate broke a filibuster against the bill. Five Republicans voted to end the filibuster and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), voted against the cloture motion.
The bill includes a one-year extension of the federal highway program, aid to state and local governments for school, energy and other infrastructure projects and tax incentives for employers to hire workers. But AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says that without “bigger and bolder actions” the $15 billion legislation:
is merely a Band-Aid on an amputated limb. [Majority Leader] Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said this bill is just the first step and more actions need to be and will be taken. We couldn’t agree more….We need 10 million jobs and Wall Street and the rich—who have benefited for years from Bush’s economic policies—need to pay to rebuild the economy and middle class they destroyed.
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