The payroll tax break would have let employers keep about $1 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, while the tax increases would have taken back about $300 billion over the same period
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) defended the bill as a "simple, common-sense" effort to "keep American jobs here in America" and to "stop forcing taxpayers in Nevada and across the nation to pay for giveaways that reward companies for sending American jobs overseas."
Four Democrats and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) voted with a united Republican caucus to block the bill, which was crafted to address the 9.6 percent unemployment rate in the run-up to November's midterm elections. On a vote of 53 to 45, the measure failed to garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster.
Senate Democrats cobbled the measure together last week as it became clear that they would have to abandon plans to extend Bush administration tax cuts for the middle class before the election. While some Democrats wanted to stage a pre-election battle over taxes, the 59-member caucus was deeply divided, with some conservatives echoing GOP arguments that tax cuts should also be preserved for the nation's wealthiest families, at least until the economy fully recovers.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday blasted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) for opposing legislation that attempts to in-source jobs by granting companies a payroll tax holiday that shift overseas jobs to the U.S. and limits the use of tax deferral.
"Of course they are [opposed]," Sanders told reporters. "They much prefer paying people in Vietnam 20 cents an hour than American workers a living wage."
Sanders suggested that these organizations oppose the bill because it bolsters the bottom lines of their members.
"It is to their advantage, in many cases, to shut down plants here and pay people a fraction of the wages that American workers lose by going to China," Sanders said. "What's the surprise about that?"
Democratic congressional candidate Matt Zeller of Victor on Tuesday announced his support for legislation in the House and Senate that he says would help 29th District resident.
H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, addresses the imbalance between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies, specifically China's, he said.
The other bill, S-3816, the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act, would provide an incentive to return overseas jobs to the United States, he said.
"The Chinese have a long history of artificially deflating the value of their currency," Zeller said.
The fair trade act is important to the district because it would reduce trade imbalances, make U.S. goods more competitive and reduce the national debt, he said.
Corning Inc. is building an $800 million plant in China to manufacture Gorilla Glass, Zeller said.
"That's something that could be done right here," he said. "Because China's currency is kept at an artificially low level, it's just that much cheaper for Corning to build their Gorilla Glass elsewhere."
The Senate bill would reduce Social Security taxes for two years that companies would pay for new employees who replace workers doing similar jobs overseas, Zeller said. It also eliminates loopholes in the tax code that encourage job outsourcing, he said.
"What it means for folks in the district is simple," he said. "It would put people back to work. It would get a large number of the jobs that we've lost to outsourcing back. It would actually reward American businesses for hiring American workers."
Republicans supported the National Association of Manufacturers who have turned their back on American workers since the 80's when Reagan gave them the green light.
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