WASHINGTON--Republicans in the U.S. Congress showed little willingness to help President Barack Obama approve $350 billion in measures to boost the economy with midterm elections less than two months away.
Obama's plans for billions of dollars in tax breaks for businesses are policies Republicans typically embrace, but the party has little motivation to give the Democratic White House a win with polls giving them strong hope of gaining seats in Congress--possibly winning both houses. Obama will announce his plans to stimulate the sagging U.S. economy in a speech on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday there was little appetite for new economic proposals from Obama, arguing that the $814 billion stimulus the president already pushed through Congress in early 2009 has not had the desired effect. "After the administration pledged that a trillion dollars in borrowed stimulus money would create 4 million jobs and keep the unemployment rate under 8 percent, their latest plan for another stimulus should be met with justifiable skepticism," he said.
Obama needs support from Republicans, who are far outnumbered by Democrats in the current Congress but are nonetheless able to block legislation. The Republicans hope to take the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate in the Nov. 2 vote, which would put them in position to call the shots on any new economy-boosting initiative.
Even Obama's own Democrats held little hope of pushing new wide-ranging legislation through Congress to lift the economy. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, said House Democratic leaders will "be looking at" Obama's initiative to add jobs through infrastructure projects. But he said it will be "very difficult to get a broad (jobs) agenda through" Congress, citing "Republican obstructionism."