Nebraska’s response to Obama jobs speech

By

September 8th, 2011

Omaha, NE – U.S. Senator Ben Nelson, (D-NE) responded to President Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress Thursday night with a lukewarm statement, hardly addressing the proposals the President laid out to reboot the economy and create jobs, saying only, “Tonight, the President set out some ideas. Others have more ideas.”

President Obama called for Congress to pass a $447 billion job stimulus package "right away." (Photo courtesy White House)

Instead, Nelson tersely called on Congress to set politics aside and get something done. Nelson said there’s no “shortage of suggestions” on ways to create jobs, but “until everyone sets aside their partisan political agendas and stops the job-killing gridlock and potshots, we’ll never get to the solutions.”

Using the phrase “job-killing” five times in his brief statement to describe the gridlock in Washington, Nelson said “It’s time to start working on jobs that can be created now because Nebraskans and all Americans deserve better.”

In an interview with Nebraska Watchdog, U.S. Senator Mike Johanns dismissed the President’s jobs speech and proposals, saying “It was really more of a campaign rally than an effort to get the economy turned around,” adding, “He wants to pit veterans against the rich and on and on.”

Nebraska’s 2nd District Congressman Lee Terry expressed a similar sentiment, telling Nebraska Watchdog the President missed an opportunity to “change course and lay out a new path to create jobs.” Terry said he supports “increasing our commitment” to infrastructure, but that should not be done through “deficit spending and higher taxes.”

Comments are closed.

©2023 KVNO News