Reid Says Democrats Undecided on Handling of Obama’s Jobs Plan

Senate Democratic leaders haven’t resolved whether they will press the chamber to consider all or only portions of President Barack Obama’s $447 billion job- creation plan, Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

Reid said he and his party’s other Senate leaders earlier today discussed the proposal, which is encountering some resistance from rank-and-file Democrats concerned about tax increases included in the plan. Reid gave no hint of when a decision will be reached on how to proceed.

“None of us agree with every part of it,” Reid told reporters at the Capitol.

He also said that he believes Senate Democrats are “very comfortable” with Obama’s proposal overall. “We’ll work this through the caucus,” he said of the jobs legislation.

Obama’s plan, released Sept. 8, includes a provision to cut payroll taxes to stimulate job growth, as well as $50 billion for road construction and $30 billion for state and local governments.

Obama proposes paying for the measure by limiting some deductions and exclusions for high-income taxpayers, along with tax increases for private equity firms, oil and gas companies and corporate jet owners. Republicans and some Democrats have objected to putting a cap on tax breaks, and the other revenue- raising proposals haven’t advanced in the past.

Republican legislative leaders, including those who control the House, also say the plan relies too heavily on ideas, like the added infrastructure spending, that were used in 2009’s economic stimulus bill. They say the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate is evidence the earlier measure didn’t work.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net