As President Obama continued his broadsides against Congress, once more demanding action on his jobs bill, the partisan elbows got sharper in the Senate on Tuesday with extra political maneuvering by both parties over who is to blame for a sour economy.
"What a charade we have here," fumed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as he used his parliamentary muscle to block Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell from offering the President's jobs bill as an amendment to a China currency bill.
"This is a political stunt," Reid said as he tried to one-up McConnell by offering to toss the China bill aside, and bring up the Obama jobs bill for debate.
But McConnell refused to accept that, countering that he was tired of listening to the President constantly demand a vote on his jobs legislation.
"He has been asking us repeatedly over the last few weeks to vote on it now," McConnell said.
To the eyes and ears of political novices on Capitol Hill, it was a series of sharp exchanges over the politics of the President's jobs plan; to the veterans, it was classic Senate Kabuki Theater, as both sides played their roles according to plan.
Reid began the maneuvering by "filling the tree" on the China currency bill, preventing any Republican amendments, as word filtered out that McConnell would try to force a vote on the Obama jobs plan.
Republicans meanwhile were able to push the story that Reid himself had blocked a vote on the Obama jobs bill, and that quickly became the lead paragraph in many stories about the Senate floor dustup.
Reid was also playing for time, as Democrats are still trying to figure out how to move ahead on the Obama jobs bill, searching for a plan that can garner the backing of all 53 Democrats in the Senate.
The latest trial balloon was using the idea of a surtax on millionaires as a way to raise money to offset the cost of the jobs measure.
"A nurse or a construction worker, a plumber making $50,000 a year, they shouldn’t pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling down $50 million. That’s not fair," the President said at a fundraiser in St. Louis last night.
But while Mr. Obama was demanding action in Congress, on the Senate floor, Reid made no guarantees as to when debate might begin on the jobs bill.
The Senate fist has to finish the China currency bill - that could happen late this week or early next week, and Reid said he might move to a trade bill after that.
That's why Republicans wanted to push for a quick vote right now, hoping to put Democrats on the record in the Senate about tax increases and more.
All the while, the President continues to slam the Congress, fully in what Republicans say is campaign mode.
"There’s going to be an election, and I’m looking forward to that election," Mr. Obama said in St. Louis.
But before we get there, there's still time for a lot of Kabuki Theater in the Congress. Next showing, maybe later today.
