Your Republican Congress at work:
House Republicans on Wednesday held ranks in defeating an attempt to force a vote on the $109 billion bipartisan transportation bill approved by the Senate last week.
So what’s the end result of the GOP opposition? Job losses:
With just 10 days until the current short-term authorization plan expires, that means House Republicans have made possible a transportation shutdown that could force more than 1.9 million workers off the job.
The Senate approved MAP-21, its transportation bill, 74-22 last week. The bill “is the biggest jobs bill that Congress will consider this year,” according to its main Democratic sponsor, California Sen. Barbara Boxer. The bill is also fully paid for. A long-term House bill that was rife with problems — not least that it would have bankrupted the Highway Trust Fund — has already been defeated.
According to the Department of Transportation, MAP-21, which continues the current levels of funding plus inflation, would save 1.9 million transportation jobs that would temporarily disappear during a shutdown.
Senate Democrats have created a handy map of what the GOP opposition is costing the country state by state. For Arkansas, we’re talking 19,300 jobs. Sounds like Tim Griffin and his cohorts should harp on getting MAP-21 passed rather than Keystone. After all, unlike Keystone, this will actually create jobs here in Arkansas.
