Republican Jobs Proposal Gets Law Wrong, Transportation Department Says 9SEP11

LOOKING for any way to NOT work with Pres Obama the repiglicans muddy the waters on infrastructure funding with this deliberate deception and manipulation. The result? The average joe will hear this on Faux News or read it in newsmax and tell his / her family and friends this is what is wrong with the the Obama administration, look how they are wasting our tax dollars. The result will be a propaganda win for the repiglicans and tea-baggers with little chance of the creation of a much needed Infrastructure Bank to fund needed projects and put people back to work. Sec of Transportation Ray LaHood, a Republican, would do well to set the record straight for the American people. From HuffPost...
WASHINGTON -- One of the Republican Party's suggestions for how to create infrastructure jobs without spending a dime is unlikely to produce much of an impact, a Department of Transportation spokesman told The Huffington Post.
The proposal, which has been advanced by top GOP leadership, involves lifting a law that requires states to set aside ten percent of the federal transportation funding they receive for use on transportation repairs. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote a letter to President Obama on Sept. 6, framing the idea as a preferred substitute to Congress appropriating additional money for infrastructure repairs.

We are not opposed to initiatives to repair and improve infrastructure, and believe there are reforms that can be implemented that would improve their effectiveness in a manner that supports economic growth. Current law requires that states set-aside 10 percent of their surface transportation funds for transportation enhancements, which must be used for items such as establishment of transportation museums, education activities for pedestrians and bicyclists, acquisition of scenic easements, historic preservation, operation of historic transportation facilities, etc. While many of the initiatives funded by this mandatory set-aside may be worthy projects, eliminating this required set-aside would allow states to devote more money to the types of infrastructure programs you are advocating without adding to the deficit.

While the suggestion sounds like a win-win -- increasing transportation funds without increasing transportation spending -- there is only one problem. Boehner's letter gets the details of the law wrong.
There is no requirement that states set aside 10 percent of all federal surface transportation funds for purposes of funding Transportation Enhancement projects, a Department of Transportation official confirms. Rather, the law says that they must set aside ten percent of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funding for those purposes.
It's not a minor distinction. The FHWA -– a sub-agency of the Department of Transportation –- was appropriated $927.6 million in fiscal year 2011. The funding for surface transportation during that same period was more than $50 billion.
In other words: the Republican proposal would result in about two percent of surface transportation funding being freed up for states to use on their own infrastructure projects. The Transportation Department official adds, for good measure, that the projects funded by the transportation enhancement program are not, as Boehner suggests, a cornucopia of questionably useful, largely scenic items. "It's almost exclusively bicycle and pedestrian projects," the official said.
While the arithmetic of the Republican proposal may be a bit less impressive than it first seemed, that doesn't mean the GOP is going to abandon the idea. A GOP leadership aide told The Huffington Post that Republican leadership was basing its proposal on the knowledge that the money came from FHWA funding, even if Boehner's letter and other party talking points said "surface transportation." Leadership, moreover, still stands by eliminating the ten percent requirement.

“It is legislative malpractice to have the Federal Government mandate to the states how to spend scarce resources, given the infrastructure needs that the President detailed last night," the aide said.

The American Jobs Act 8SEP11

FACT sheet and video of the speech from the White House on President Obama's jobs program

The American Jobs Act President Obama’s Plan to Create Jobs Now
1. TAX CUTS TO HELP AMERICA’S SMALL BUSINESSES HIRE AND GROW
• Cutting the payroll tax cut in half for 98 percent of businesses: The President’s plan will cut in half the taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, targeting the benefit to the 98 percent of firms that have payroll below this threshold.
• A complete payroll tax holiday for added workers or increased wages: The President’s plan will
completely eliminate payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll by adding new workers or
increasing the wages of their current worker (the benefit is capped at the first $50 million in
payroll increases).
• Extending 100% expensing into 2012: This continues an effective incentive for new investment.
• Reforms and regulatory reductions to help entrepreneurs and small businesses access capital.
2. PUTTING WORKERS BACK ON THE JOB WHILE REBUILDING AND MODERNIZING AMERICA
• A “Returning Heroes” hiring tax credit for veterans: This provides tax credits from $5,600 to $9,600 to encourage the hiring of unemployed veterans.
• Preventing up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, while keeping cops and firefighters on the job.
• Modernizing at least 35,000 public schools across the country, supporting new science labs, Internet-ready classrooms and renovations at schools across the country, in rural and urban areas.
• Immediate investments in infrastructure and a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank,
modernizing our roads, rail, airports and waterways while putting hundreds of thousands of workers
back on the job.
• A New “Project Rebuild”, which will put people to work rehabilitating homes, businesses and
communities, leveraging private capital and scaling land banks and other public-private
collaborations.
• Expanding access to high-speed wireless as part of a plan for freeing up the nation’s spectrum.
3. PATHWAYS BACK TO WORK FOR AMERICANS LOOKING FOR JOBS
• The most innovative reform to the unemployment insurance program in 40 years: As part of an extension of unemployment insurance to prevent 5 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits, the President’s plan includes innovative work-based reforms to prevent layoffs and give states greater flexibility to use UI funds to best support job-seekers, including:
› Work-Sharing: UI for workers whose employers choose work-sharing over layoffs.
› A new “Bridge to Work” program: The plan builds on and improves innovative state programs where those displaced take temporary, voluntary work or pursue on-the-job training.
LEARN MORE AT WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV
The American Jobs Act President Obama’s Plan to Create Jobs Now
› Inno
vative entrepreneurship and wage insurance programs: States will also be empowered to implement wage insurance to help reemploy older workers and programs that make it easier for unemployed workers to start their own businesses.
• A $4,000 tax credit to employers for hiring long-term unemployed workers.
• Prohibiting employers from discriminating against unemployed workers when hiring.
• Expanding job opportunities for low-income youth and adults through a fund for successful approaches for subsidized employment, innovative training programs and summer/year-round jobs
for youth.
4. TAX RELIEF FOR EVERY AMERICAN WORKER AND FAMILY
• Cutting payroll taxes in half for 160 million workers next year: The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last year to cut workers payroll taxes in half in 2012 – providing a $1,500 tax cut to the typical American family, without negatively impacting the Social Security Trust Fund.
• Allowing more Americans to refinance their mortgages at today’s near 4 percent interest rates, which can put more than $2,000 a year in a family’s pocket.
5. FULLY PAID FOR AS PART OF THE PRESIDENT’S LONG-TERM DEFICIT REDUCTION PLAN.
To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.
LEAR