July 12, 2012

Manchin Statement on Senate Jobs Measure That Won’t Create Jobs and Adds to Deficit

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) issued the following statement about voting against S. 2237, the so-called Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act. 

“This bill might sound like a good idea, but the fact is that it won’t create jobs and it adds too much to our deficit,” Senator Manchin said. “The people of West Virginia sent me to Washington to make hard choices, not make politically easy votes. I believe in helping our small businesses create jobs, but this bill doesn’t guarantee that businesses will hire any additional employees or that any new employees will keep their jobs over the long-term. Worse still, not one cent of that short-term gimmick is paid for. Unfortunately, even the worthwhile provisions in the bill aren’t paid for, so I will work with my colleagues to find a way to fund them without going into more debt. 

“Looking at this measure as a whole, it just doesn’t make any sense to put this country billions of dollars further in debt. I am still determined to fight these endless political games and bring people together around real solutions to fix our problems.”

Background: 

There are no budget offsets to pay for the tax cuts, which are expected to cost billions of dollars. 

The bill is intended to increase incentives for businesses to hire new employees, but it would give tax breaks to businesses that don’t need incentives because they have already hired new employees this year. Additionally, there is no requirement to retain employees for any length of time. 

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