Senate passes jobs bill, 70-28

The Senate voted 70-28 on Wednesday morning to pass a $15
billion jobs package, giving Senate Democrats their first legislative victory
of the year.

Thirteen Republicans joined 55 Democrats and two
independents to vote for the bill. Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) was the only
Democrat to vote against it.

{mosads}Final passage of the bill was made possible by the support
of Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) and four other Republicans who voted Monday to
cut off a GOP filibuster.

Democratic leaders must now negotiate the differences
between the Senate bill and a much larger House jobs bill, which costs $154
billion.

“We need to do more and we understand that,” Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters. “The road to recovery is a very long
one. Today’s progress is a small step forward but an important step forward.”

The bill included four components: a $13 billion tax credit
for employers who hire new workers; greater flexibility of businesses to write
off capital expenditures; $2 billion in Build America Bonds to lower municipal
borrowing costs; and a $20 billion transfer in highway funding, which did not
require a spending offset and counts toward the overall cost of the legislation.

Reid said that he would soon move a travel and tourism
promotion bill that would be particularly helpful to tourism-dependent Nevada.

Reid said the travel and tourism bill would create 40,000
new jobs in the service sector and 240,000 other jobs. Republicans blocked the
legislation last year.

Reid said he would also advance a Federal Aviation
Administration bill that would create “thousands” of jobs.

The jobs bill did not include an extension of expiring
unemployment insurance and COBRA health insurance subsidies. A Democratic aide
said that leaders plan to pass a short-term extension of unemployment insurance
and COBRA but Reid said Wednesday his plan is to eventually pass a year-long
extension.

Reid said he planned Senate votes on the travel and tourism
bill, the FAA reauthorization, a package of short-term extension of expiring
tax credits, increased federal Medicaid assistance to states and a small-business assistance bill.

“We have a small-business jobs package we’re working on,”
said Reid. “It’s going to be a very robust package.”

Reid said the Senate Banking, Finance and Small Business committees are working on the small-business legislation.