Senate Passes $35 Billion Jobs Bill
The Senate has passed a jobs bill that would, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), create:
- A payroll tax holiday for businesses to encourage hiring
- Allow Section 179 expensing to help small businesses expand
- Extend the Highway Trust Fund to allow billions in infrastructure investment and saving one million jobs
- Expand Build America Bonds program to allow states to borrow more for infrastructure projects.
Read the bill here. The House, which passed a far more extensive and expensive jobs bill in late December, must decide whether to adopt this measure as-is and send it to the president or fight to pass their one big measure. Most observers expect the House to pass the Senate version, and wait for additional jobs-related proposals to trickle out of the Senate.