The Leader's Ledger

State Of Play: Democrat Controlled Senate Rejects President Obama’s Bill

Senate Democrats Continue To Object To President Obama’s Bill. Senate Democratic leaders last week revised the president’s initial proposal, partly to try to pick up more support within their party. That scrapped Obama’s method of paying for the jobs plan, including higher taxes on families making more than $250,000 a year. Senate leaders substituted a 5.6 percent surtax on people making at least $1 million annually. Even so, Democratic Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska opposed the plan. “I can’t support tax gimmicks that do little to create jobs” and don’t address the need for a bipartisan deficit-cutting plan, Tester said in a statement. Bloomberg

• Sen. Webb: The President’s Proposal Is Not Smart Policy. The new method of offsetting the bill’s costs still ran into Democratic opposition. Senator James Webb, a Virginia Democrat, said he would vote to let debate start, but wouldn’t support the Senate jobs legislation as it was drafted. ... “The present proposal looks good at first glance; it sounds good on a TV bite, but in all respect to the people who put it forward, I do not believe it’s smart policy and it does not go where the real economic division lies in our country,” Webb said. Bloomberg

• Sen. Lieberman: The Costs Of The President’s Plan Outweigh The Potential Benefits. Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, supported Reid’s bid to begin debate on Obama’s jobs package but voiced misgivings over its substance. “The bottom line here is that I don’t believe the potential in this act for creating jobs justifies adding another $500 billion to our almost $15 trillion national debt,” Lieberman said. The Hill

State Of Play (2): President Obama Finally Acknowledges What Republicans Have Said For Months – His All-Or-Nothing Approach Won’t Work, We Need To Focus On Areas Of Commonality

President Obama Recognizes The Only Way Forward Is To Break Up His Bill. Even before the vote, President Obama acknowledged the bill faced certain defeat and conceded the White House would have to take a new approach. "We're going to have to break it up," he said shortly after meeting with a group of business and labor leaders in Pittsburgh. The Los Angeles Times

Leader Cantor: House Republicans Remain Focused On Areas Of Agreement. House Republican leaders have said they do not intend to take up the president’s bill as a whole. But they welcomed the signal from the White House that the administration would be open to a piecemeal effort. The House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, said he hoped “the president will drop his all-or-nothing approach and begin to work with us on areas of commonality,” including initiatives that could promote hiring and economic growth. “We are willing to take up the things we can agree on,” Mr. Cantor said. The New York Times

• Cantor: Tax Increases Remain A Nonstarter. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) welcomed talk of a more incremental approach on jobs but said Democrats and the White House should try to work with the GOP, and he called tax increases a “nonstarter.” Roll Call

The Economy: Republicans, Regional Business Leaders Agree – We Must Focus On Removing Barriers To Job Growth

Rep. Renee Ellmers: President Obama’s Economic Policies Are Stifling Innovation and Preventing Growth. President Obama is trying to construct artificially innovation and jobs by punishing the very people who create them. With plans to raise taxes and increase our debt, he is further restricting the flow of the free market and perpetuating uncertainty. His “bold” ideas include more of the same — borrow more, spend more, regulate more. To small businesses and entrepreneurs, this begs the questions “borrow from whom,” “spend where,” “regulate what”? The innovator is left with their ideas and advancement determined by some unknown bureaucrat and not the consumers who will ultimately determine their worth. You can’t foster innovation without passion, risk and reward. The Hill

• Business Leaders In Pittsburgh Discuss Onerous Regulations, Declare That Regulatory Compliance Has “Gotten Ridiculous.” Regional business leaders gave members of President Barack Obama's jobs council an earful today, complaining about what they called onerous regulations and flawed trade policies. "Regulatory compliance has certainly gotten ridiculous," Thorley Industries CEO Robert Daley told the panel. The Lawrenceville company makes baby strollers and other products under the 4moms label. Mr. Daley said the company has the equivalent of 2.5 workers handling regulatory chores, most of which are paperwork related and do not add to the value of the product. "This regulatory environment is just brutal," he said. "If we were trying to start our business today, there's no way we could do it." Mr. Daley was the second member of the audience to speak. The first, William Rackoff of Asko, a Homestead-based metals industry supplier, also complained about regulations. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Road Ahead: House Democrats Push For More Tax Hikes

The Wrong Approach: Levin, Ways & Means Democrats Plan A “How To” On Raising Taxes For Democrats On The Super Committee. Levin Says House Dems Will Send Super Committee Separate Tax Proposals. The top Democratic tax writer told reporters on Tuesday that Democrats on Ways and Means will be sending separate recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. ... Levin said it was long past time for the discussion to include a focus on revenue. National Journal

Keeping Tabs

Blue Dogs Back Repatriation, Encourage Super Committee To Include The Bipartisan Proposal. The Blue Dog Coalition, a group of centrist House Democrats, voted yesterday to prod the supercommittee to include the Hagan-McCain repatriation bill in its deficit-reduction deliberations. 'As you consider tax reform, we urge you to include a temporary change to the tax code that allows businesses to repatriate money trapped overseas as part of reform or as a bridge to comprehensive reform,' the Blue Dogs write in a letter to be sent today. 'This bipartisan bill ... removes a barrier that keeps up to $1.4 trillion in American private-sector money overseas. The Freedom to Invest Act, and similar bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Hagan and McCain, will entice American companies selling their goods and services abroad to bring earnings back to the United States for investment. The legislation also includes disincentives for American companies who repatriate earnings and reduce their workforce, ensuring that companies directly invest in the U.S. economy. Without Congressional action this money stays overseas and is invested in foreign economies.' Former Blue Dog Chairman Jim Matheson and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) are the cosponsors of the House version of the legislation. Politico’s Huddle