Senate passes jobs bill
By The Associated Press
This article was published March 17, 2010 at 11:18 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Companies that hire unemployed workers will get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill that easily won final congressional approval Wednesday.
The bipartisan 68-29 vote in the Senate sends the legislation to the White House, where President Barack Obama has promised to sign it into law.
Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both Arkansas Democrats, voted for the measure.
The bill contains about $18 billion in tax breaks and a $20 billion infusion of cash into highway and transit programs. Among other things, it exempts businesses that hire the unemployed from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December and gives employers an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. Taxpayers will have to reimburse Social Security for the lost revenue.
“This is just the first, certainly not the last, piece of legislation that we will put forward in relation to jobs,” said sponsor Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “If we don’t create jobs, the economy will not move forward.”
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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