Piecemeal Plan for Obama Jobs Bill Fails First Senate Test
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Democrats failed in their first attempt to salvage parts of President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan as the U.S. Senate blocked a proposal designed to keep state workers employed.
The vote last night was 50-50, falling short of the 60 needed to advance a bill Obama campaigned for this week on a mid-Atlantic bus tour. It would send cash-strapped state governments an additional $35 billion to help prevent layoffs of public-sector employees. Republicans objected to a 0.5 percent tax on millionaires that would have financed the plan.