Weekly Outlook:   

The Senate convened at 2:00 p.m. today and resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3240, the farm bill, post-cloture.                                                              

At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #607, Andrew Hurwitz of Arizona to be United States circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit.

If cloture is not invoked, the Senate will resume legislative session, and the motion to proceed to S. 3240 will be agreed to at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.  If cloture is invoked, following disposition of Executive Calendar #607 the Senate will resume legislative session, and the motion to proceed to S. 3240 will be agreed to.

Agriculture Committee staff have been working on a list of amendments to S. 3240.  However, a formal agreement has not yet been reached for their consideration on the Senate floor.  At some point, cloture will be filed on the farm bill if agreement cannot be reached.                                                                                  

Items which may be brought up during this work period include:

• S.J. Res. 37, the Inhofe Utility MACT resolution of disapproval
• Flood insurance extension
• Paycheck fairness legislation – a motion to reconsider last week’s failed cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 3220 has been entered
• S. 2237, a bill offered by Senator Reid, which would provide a 10 percent tax credit for increased payroll in 2012 and extend bonus depreciation until January 1, 2013
• Highway bill conference report, if one becomes available, or a short-term extension
• Appropriations, including CJS appropriations
• Cybersecurity
• Student loan legislation.  On May 24, S. 2343 failed to receive 60 affirmative votes and was returned to the Senate Calendar.
• Violence Against Women Act reauthorization conference report, if one becomes available.  The Senate-passed bill includes a revenue provision, and if the Senate takes up the House-passed bill and amends it with the Senate-passed bill, the House will have to send it back due to a blue slip problem.

What’s Being Said – Senate Republican Conference & Senate Republican Communications Center:

• Obama: “Private Sector Is Doing Fine”: Despite High Unemployment and Slow GDP, President Obama Thinks “The Private Sector Is Doing Fine”
• Taxes: Dem Division Spreads: Even More Democrats Are Breaking With President Obama, Signaling They’re Open to Extending ALL Tax Rates
• Dem Chairman: Extend All Rates: The Democrat Budget Chairman Joins a Growing Chorus of Party Veterans on Extending All Tax Rates
• Clinton: Extend All Tax Rates: President Bill Clinton Says That Extending “All the Tax Cuts Due to Expire at the End of the Year” Is “Probably the Best Thing We Can Do Right Now”
•  Jobs Groups, Editorials Blast Dem Bill: Jobs Groups Warn It “Would Spawn Frivolous Lawsuits,” Editorials Argue “Companies Are Right to Be Concerned”

SRC Video Clip:

VIDEO: The Private Sector Is “Doing Fine”?

VIDEO: On Second Anniversary of “Recovery Summer,”

Americans Still Looking for the Recovery

Senators featured in this video (in order of appearance): Barrasso, Kyl, McCain, Hatch, Cornyn, McConnell, Thune, Lugar, Heller, Hoeven, Rubio, Collins, Moran

SRC Policy Note:

The Obama Economy Fails to Deliver

President Obama’s Recovery Summer Two Years Later

• In June 2010, President Obama kicked off “Recovery Summer” to tout the supposed successes of his $831-billion stimulus bill.

• Secretary Geithner even penned an op-ed in the New York Times entitled “Welcome to the Recovery.”

• The White House and Democrats claimed Obama’s nearly trillion-dollar stimulus bill would keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent.

• After Obama signed the stimulus bill into law, unemployment peaked at over 10 percent, and it has remained above 8 percent for 40 straight months, which hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.

• Today more than 23 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed.

• President Obama’s policies have failed to make things better. 

The Summer of Broken Promises

Recovery Summer Rhetoric:

• President Obama declared the economy had begun “growing at a good clip.”

• Vice President Joe Biden predicted that the “creation of 250,000 to 500,000 new jobs a month could soon be on the horizon.”

Recovery Summer Reality:

• GDP grew at a rate of just 1.7 percent in 2011 and 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012 – well below the rate of previous recoveries. 

• In 2012, only 77,000 jobs were created in April, and only 69,000 jobs were created in May.

President Obama’s Stimulus Bill Failed to Deliver

• In 2009, the White House predicted the massive stimulus bill would keep unemployment under 8 percent, and actually reduce it below 6 percent by April 2012.

• The Obama White House claimed that the stimulus would create or save up to 4 million jobs and that 1.5 millionof the newly created jobs would go to women. 
  • Since Obama took office, more than half a million jobs have been destroyed, and the number of unemployed women has increased by 766,000.

Millions of Americans Continue to Struggle in the Obama Economy

• Middle-class incomes have dropped by $4,350 since Obama took office, and they continue to fall.

• The labor force participation rate remains near a 30-year low.  

• The number of long-term unemployed has doubled to 5.4 million since Obama took office.

• Housing prices have declined 13 percent despite nine new Obama housing programs, which have “dramatically underperformed.”

• The number of food stamp recipients has increased by 45 percent, and a record 46 million Americans now depend on food stamps. 

Republican Efforts to Strengthen the Economy:

• Senator Coats: CBO Projections Show a Nation “Drowning in Debt” (Read More)

• Senator Corker Introduces Bill to Encourage More Global Investment in the U.S. and Tennessee (Read More)

• Senator Boozman Urges Action on Jobs Agenda (Read More)

• Senator Blunt Slams President Obama’s Assertion That “Private Sector Is Doing Fine” (Read More)

• Senator Hatch Says It’s Time for President Obama to Follow President Clinton’s Lead, Act to Prevent Largest Tax Hike in American History (Read More)

• Senator Johanns Opposes Increased Regulation on Employers (Read More)

• Senator Ron Johnson: The Private Sector Is Not “Doing Fine” (Read More)

• Senator Thune: Obama Private Sector Comments Out of Touch, Insulting (Read More)