Senate GOP Blocks Veterans Jobs Bill

Source: Roll Call

Senate Republicans today defeated Democratic legislation designed to help veterans get jobs, complaining that the measure violates budget rules and is meant to score political points rather than help veterans.

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Democrats sought to waive budget rules, but the proposal failed 58-40, with most Republicans voting against it. Sixty votes were needed to overcome the procedural hurdle and push the bill toward final passage. Five Republicans - Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) - voted with all 53 members of the Democratic Conference to sidestep the procedural roadblock.

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Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is in a tight race for re-election, said the GOP blocked the bill because it's a White House proposal and because he is a co-sponsor.

"They are going to kill it on a technicality," Nelson said. "That is what is going on here, and it's sad."

Senate Veterans' Affairs Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the cost of the bill, $1 billion over five years, is offset. She noted that a vote to block the measure is tantamount to saying the nation has done enough for veterans.

"A vote to support this point of order says that despite the fact that we have paid for this bill, despite the fact that one in four young veterans are out of work, despite the fact that veterans suicides are outpacing combat deaths, and despite the fact that more and more veterans are coming home, we are not going to invest in these challenges," Murray said.


Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/senate_gop_blocks_veterans_jobs_bill-217685-1.html?pos=hln

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