Nancy Pelosi Debunks John Boehner’s 40 Jobs Bills Myth

Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) office has been putting out fact sheets on the Boehner jobs bills, and lo and behold, it's true. They aren't jobs bills …

You can hear Speaker John Boehner trying to sell his special interest giveaways as “jobs bills” every Thursday during his pressers. He has marked the bills as such and so they must be, Shakespeare notwithstanding. But there is a reason he has never gotten an independent score on his “Jobs bills”, and that’s because they are not actually jobs bills.

Boehner often stands in front of a press wall which attempts to reinforce this false message by screaming “JOBS!” These things used to work, but not so much anymore since the internet.

And Democrats aren’t taking it lying down anymore. I guess this is what comes after twenty odd years of being trolled hard by Republicans in the media. So Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office has been putting out fact sheets on the Boehner jobs bills, and lo and behold, it’s true. They aren’t jobs bills, which is sort of a duh moment because if repugicans wanted jobs they would have passed President Obama’s fully paid for American Jobs Act after making adjustments to it.

Pelosi’s office notes:

Speaker Boehner’s list of 43 so-called “jobs” bills includes:
· 33 partisan, special interest bills, which are message bills to nowhere and are not “jobs” bills; and
· 10 mostly modest bills with bipartisan support still being considered in the Senate; not significant “jobs” bills.

And here we go to the weeds. Bear with me, because this is an exhaustive list, but it needed to be said:

Below are the facts about the repugican cabal’s Faux 43:

33 Partisan, Special-Interest Bills; Message Bills to Nowhere; NOT “Jobs” Bills

* A Gift to Big Oil Act Attempt 1 (Continental Shelf Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreements Authorization Act, H.R. 1613) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill includes a special-interest provision sought by Big Oil that waives a Wall Street Reform provision requiring public disclosure by companies of payments made to foreign governments for oil and gas resources – a provision designed to shed light on the deals between energy companies and government officials/paramilitary groups abroad.

* A Gift to Big Oil Act Attempt 2 (Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel An America That Works Act, H.R. 4899) – Instead of creating jobs, this special-interest bill is an omnibus energy bill that rewards Big Oil and does nothing to help consumers at the pump. It mandates the most sweeping expansion of offshore drilling in our nation’s history – making broad sections of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans open for new, unsafe drilling, threatening tourism, fishing, our coast environment, and American jobs. It also gives away our public lands to Big Oil companies – elevating energy production above hunting, fishing, recreation, grazing and conservation in managing our public lands and irresponsibly expanding drilling on these public lands.

* A Gift to Big Oil and Gas Act (Protecting States’ Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act, H.R. 2728) – Instead of creating jobs, this extreme, special-interest bill blocks all federal oversight of oil and gas drilling using hydraulic fracking on federal lands and relinquishes control to the states, no matter how weak a state’s guidance, thereby undermining the ability to ensure the safety of drinking water resources around the country.

* A Gift to the Mining Industry Act (National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, H.R. 761) – Instead of creating jobs, this special-interest bill is a gift to the mining industry – with the bill, under the guise of promoting development of minerals critical to U.S. national security, being so broadly drafted that it would dramatically reduce or eliminate proper environmental reviews for almost all types of mines on public lands, even mines for sand and gravel, not remotely strategic.

* A Gift to the Coal Industry Act Attempt 1 (Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, H.R. 2218) – Instead of creating jobs, this special-interest bill endangers public health by preventing effective management of coal ash, even though coal ash contains significant quantities of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium, and more than 65 sites in 26 states have been found where coal ash has contaminated the groundwater.

* A Gift to the Coal Industry Act Attempt 2 (Electricity Security & Affordability Act, H.R. 3826) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill undermines our health, our economy and our environment by blocking responsible, measured efforts to reduce carbon pollution – despite the fact that carbon pollution has been shown to damage our health by causing more asthma attacks and damage our economy by causing more frequent extreme weather events, such as floods, hurricanes, and drought, and despite the fact that moving towards clean power will create tens of thousands of jobs and spark innovation.

* A Gift to the Coal Industry Act Attempt 3 (Preventing Government Waste & Protecting Coal Mining Jobs in America Act, H.R. 2824) – Instead of creating jobs, this special-interest bill gives a gift to big coal companies by replacing sensible Reagan-era protections for streams and communities in Appalachia from the impacts of mountaintop removal mining with much weaker protections – which would make the families of Appalachia pay the price through degraded water, flooding and health impacts.

* A Gift to the Timber Industry Act (Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, H.R. 1526) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill establishes “timber production zones” in each national forest, with each forest required to meet annual timber volume targets set at half of what the forest grows each year. Meeting these targets would require logging and related road building in currently protected roadless areas. In addition, the bill includes additional provisions reversing 100 years of national forest management precedent and undermining, or in some cases eliminating, multiple-use of our national forests, thereby harming recreation, hunting, fishing, and tourism.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 1 (Northern Route Approval Act, H.R. 3) – Instead of creating jobs, this extreme bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – effectively exempting TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from all federal permitting requirements, including requirements that apply to every other construction project in this country.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 2 (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, H.R. 367) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – requiring that, in order to go into effect, any significant rule must be approved by both Houses of Congress within 70 legislative days of being received, giving special interests with deep pockets – such as banks, hedge funds, major polluters – the ability to simply bottle up a rule in one House for a relatively short period of time in order to completely kill the rule.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 3 (Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act, H.R. 1900) – Instead of creating jobs, this tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – allowing the automatic approval of natural gas pipeline projects if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or other federal agencies do not issue the required permit within rigid, unworkable timeframes.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 4 (Achieving Less Excess in Regulation & Requiring Transparency Act (ALERRT) Act, H.R. 2804) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – adding 60 new analytical requirements to rulemaking to throw sand in the gears and making it much easier for big corporations – banks, hedge funds, major polluters – to evade their obligations to protect the public by giving deep-pocketed special interests with enough legal resources the option to challenge rules at many more points in the process.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 5 (Unfunded Mandates Information & Technology Act, H.R. 899)- Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – by giving private industry an unfair advantage in the rulemaking process, politicizing independent regulatory agencies, and giving deep-pocketed regulated industries new abilities to tie up rules in litigation in the courts for years – with the bill opposed by Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 6 (Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development (RAPID) Act, H.R. 2641) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – giving private sector businesses increased control in the project approval process, tipping the scales in favor of private entities by restricting the alternatives that can be considered, and blurring the distinct roles of private entities and agencies in agency decisions by allowing project sponsors to prepare environmental review documents.

* Rulemaking for Special Interests Act Attempt 7 (North American Energy Infrastructure Act, H.R. 3301) – Instead of creating jobs, this special-interest bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – eliminating the current requirement that proposed oil and natural gas pipelines and electric transmission lines that cross the U.S. border with Mexico or Canada obtain a presidential permit, after an environmental review and determination that the project is in the national interest, and replaces it with an extremely weak, limited review process.

* GOP’s Budget to Give More Tax Breaks to Millionaires, As Well As To Destroy 3 Million Jobs (Path to Prosperity Budget, H.Con.Res. 96) – Instead of creating jobs, this House GOP budget is estimated to destroy 3 million jobs and decrease economic growth by 2.5 percent in 2016. The GOP budget guts investment in America’s highways, railways, transit systems, and ports and slashes education funding. In addition, the GOP budget raises taxes on middle class families with children by an average of at least $2,000, while giving a $200,000 tax break to millionaires.

* Exploding the Deficit By Providing Corporations $156 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (American Research and Competitiveness Act, H.R. 4438) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 14-bill package of permanent tax cuts, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by $800 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $156 billion – by making permanent the R&D tax credit, unpaid for. Democrats strongly support the R&D tax credit but believe it should not be made permanent by adding to the deficit without any revenue offsets and also believe this proposal should be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform.

* Exploding the Deficit By Providing Businesses $73 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (America’s Small Business Tax Relief Act, H.R. 4457) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 14-bill package of permanent tax cuts, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by $800 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $73 billion – by making permanent expanded “Section 179″ expensing for small businesses, unpaid for. Democrats strongly support “Section 179″ expensing but believe that it should not be made permanent by adding to the deficit without any revenue offsets and also believe that this proposal should be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform.

* Exploding the Deficit By Providing Corporations $2.2 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (S Corporation Permanent Tax Relief Act, H.R. 4453) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 14-bill package of permanent tax cuts, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by $800 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $2.2 billion – by making permanent two provisions providing tax breaks for S-corporations, unpaid for. Democrats believe that this proposal should be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform.

* Exploding the Deficit By Providing Corporations $287 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (Making Permanent Bonus Depreciation, H.R. 4718) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 14-bill package of permanent tax cuts, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by $800 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $287 billion – by making permanent bonus depreciation, unpaid for. Democrats support continuing bonus depreciation in the manner it was intended – as a temporary boost to our economy during economic downturns – but NOT as a permanent tax break.

* Exploding the Deficit By $96 Billion With Higher Education Tax Benefit Provisions That Leave Many Students Worse Off Act (Student and Family Tax Simplification Act, H.R. 3393) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 14-bill package of permanent tax cuts, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by $800 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $96 billion – by making the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent, unpaid for. The bill also takes away tax benefits from certain students – non-traditional undergraduate students, lifetime learners, and graduate students – to pay for benefits for undergraduate students completing their degrees in four years.

* Exploding the Deficit By $90 Billion With Child Tax Credit Provisions That Leave Millions of Low-Income Working Families Behind Act ( Making Permanent Bonus Depreciation, H.R. 4718) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 14-bill package of permanent tax cuts, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by $800 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $90 billion. The bill extends the Child Tax Credit up the income scale – on a permanent basis – so more families with six-figure incomes will benefit, while letting the Child Tax Credit disappear for many low-income working families after 2017. The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the GOP bill will result in pushing 12 million people – including 6 million children – into or deeper into poverty.

* Putting Insurance Companies Back in Charge of Your Health Care Act (Repealing Obamacare, H.R. 45) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill puts insurance companies back in charge of Americans’ health care by repealing the Affordable Care Act. The bill would allow insurers to once again deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, charge women more than men for the same coverage, and deny young adults the opportunity to stay on their parents’ plan; increase prescription drug costs for seniors; increase the costs of preventive services for those with private insurance; increase the deficit by $109 billion over 10 years; and destroy jobs.

* Raising Taxes on More Than 20 Million Americans and on Small Businesses Act (Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act, H.R. 2009) – Instead of creating jobs, by prohibiting the Treasury Department from implementing the ACA, this bill raises taxes on more than 20 million Americans and on small businesses. First, it takes away from Americans the premium tax credits that would save them hundreds of billions of dollars, and secondly, it takes away from small businesses the small business health care tax credit that is already saving them money.

* Forcing One Million People to Lose Their Employer-Sponsored Coverage Act (Save American Workers Act, H.R. 2575) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, would force one million people to lose their employer-provided coverage, increase the federal deficit by $74 billion, and increase the number of uninsured by up to 500,000.

* Slashing Education Act (Student Success Act, H.R. 5) – Instead of creating jobs, this right-wing bill guts education funding, cutting education funding by $1 billion in 2014 alone; rolls back protections for disadvantaged students; and removes accountability provisions designed to ensure all students have access to a high-quality education – with the groups opposed to this radical bill including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, National PTA, The Education Trust, NEA, and AFT.

* Ignoring the Concerns of Law Enforcement Act (Stop Government Abuse Act, H.R. 2879) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill allows individuals to record telephone calls and in-person conversations with federal employees, including federal law enforcement agents, without their knowledge – and is opposed by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association.

* Political Stunt Act (Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act, H.R. 890) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is a political stunt – overturning the Administration’s proposal to provide states more flexibility to move more Americans from welfare to work, based on the false claim that the proposal gutted the work requirements in TANF. Indeed, this false GOP claim received a “Pants On Fire” designation from PolitiFact.

* Waste of Time Act (The Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act, H.R. 6) – Although the bill’s proponents claim that it is needed to accelerate Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports, this bill would not have that effect. The bill is unnecessary because the Department of Energy is already aggressively approving LNG exports. To date, DOE has approved seven export applications. The amounts already approved for export would transform the U.S. into the world’s second largest exporter of LNG, just behind Qatar. If one more application is granted, the U.S. would become the world’s largest exporter of LNG.

* Preempting State Water Rights Act (Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act, H.R. 3964) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill sets a dangerous precedent of preempting state water rights, leaving other states vulnerable to this kind of unwarranted federal interference. It repeals existing law regarding the use of water in California and unravels a key water settlement reached by the state of California, local ranchers, farmers, and other users of water from the San Joaquin River that has been decades in the making. It dismisses the best available science, repeals environmental protections, damages local tourism, hurts fishermen and farmers, and would cause job losses.

* On Behalf of Special Interests, Working to Undermine Wall Street Reforms Act (Small Business Capital Access and Job Preservation Act, H.R. 1105) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill exempts private equity funds from the disclosure requirements that the Congress included in Wall Street Reform to allow regulators to assess systemic risks – with such disclosure necessary to make the financial market more transparent and protect investors.

* Anti-Worker Act (Working Families Flexibility Act, H.R. 1406) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill gives employers the flexibility to substitute overtime pay to their workers with comp time. Under the bill’s provisions, workers will not get paid for hours that exceed 40 hours per week. That pay will instead go into an employer-controlled pot to be paid later. Furthermore, employers could schedule excessive overtime hours and only offer overtime work to workers who agree to take comp time instead of overtime wages.

* Pro-Polluter Act (Energy Consumers Relief, H.R. 1582) – Instead of creating jobs, this extreme bill blocks the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to put in place critical public health rules to reduce pollution that harms the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the climate.

10 Generally Modest Bills with Bipartisan Support; Still Under Consideration in Senate; Not Significant “Jobs” Bills

* Central Oregon Jobs and Water Security Act (H.R. 2640) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a modest, bipartisan, noncontroversial bill that passed the House under suspension of the rules by voice vote. It contains provisions designed to provide a long-term water supply for the City of Prineville, Oregon and the surrounding area and generate clean and emissions-free hydropower. It is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Veterans Economic Opportunity Act (H.R. 2481) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a bipartisan, noncontroversial bill that passed the House under suspension of the rules by voice vote. It creates a Veterans Economic Opportunity Administration within the VA to administer existing vocational, education and other assistance programs for veterans. It also clarifies foreclosure and refinancing protections for veterans and extends certain homeless veterans reintegration programs. It is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Success and Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act (H.R. 10) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a modest, bipartisan bill that passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 360 to 45. This bill reauthorizes and strengthens the Charter School Program, which supports the planning, development, and initial implementation of charter schools. It is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Innovation Act (H.R. 3309) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a bill that received bipartisan support, passing the House by a vote of 325 to 91. 130 Democrats voted for the bill, arguing that it was a positive step forward in promoting innovators and cracking down on abusive practices of patent “trolls.” 64 Democrats voted against the bill, arguing that it needed improvements, including better fully protecting the interests of small businesses. It is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Hire More Heroes Act (H.R. 3474) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a bipartisan, noncontroversial bill that passed the House under suspension of the rules by a bipartisan vote of 406 to 1. It is designed to encourage the hiring of veterans by allowing employers that hire a veteran who has health coverage through TRICARE or the Veterans Administration to not count that veteran towards the 50-employee threshold for triggering the ACA employer responsibility requirement. It is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act (H.R. 624) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a bill that received some bipartisan support, passing the House by a vote of 288 to 127. It encourages greater sharing of cyber threat data between the private sector and the federal government. 92 Democrats voted for the bill, arguing that it would improve the ability to successfully defend against cyber threats. 98 Democrats voted against the bill, arguing that the privacy of Americans was not being adequately protected. The bill is still under consideration in the Senate. Although a significant bill, it is not a jobs bill.

* Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (H.R. 3086) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a bipartisan bill that passed the House under suspension of the rules by voice vote. It permanently extends the Internet Freedom Act, which is set to expire on November 1 – thereby permanently banning state and local governments from taxing Internet access. Although it passed by voice vote, some Democrats expressed concerns that permanently extending the ban could limit the ability of state and local entities to review Internet policies. The bill is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act (H.R. 3136) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a modest, bipartisan, noncontroversial bill that passed the House by a vote of 414 to 0. It creates some demonstration projects for competency-based higher education programs that substitute the assessment of student knowledge in place of such time-based measures as credit hours or time spent in class. The bill is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (H.R. 4983) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a modest, bipartisan, noncontroversial bill that passed the House under suspension of the rules by voice vote. It requires improvements in the Education Department’s college comparison website for students and parents, requiring more detailed information on enrollment, costs, financial aid, faculty, and graduation rates. The bill is still under consideration in the Senate.

* Empowering Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act (H.R. 4984) – Still Under Consideration in Senate – This is a modest, bipartisan, noncontroversial bill that passed the House by a vote of 405 to 11. It makes improvements in the financial counseling that recipients of student aid and loans receive so that students can make more informed choices of how to finance their education and always know how much they will owe. The bill is still under consideration in the Senate.

It’s easy to blow this off as partisan, but in fact, it’s true, and it’s not just Leader Pelosi’s office saying so. Parsing the bills shows that Boehner’s list is not actually a jobs bills list. Pretty much all reality-bound folks agree on this matter, save wingnut non-think tanks run or funded by special interests that stand to gain from the phony jobs bills. Deregulation, oil and fracking giveaways and trickle down, y’all! so fresh! Those jobs are a comin’ any day now!

If repugicans believe otherwise, they need to put their bills up to be scored like the Democrats did with President Obama’s paid-for jobs bill. This is a simple matter. Not doing so is an admission that the bills are not actually jobs bills, unless you consider trickle down fantasies to be a real thing.

Independent analysts found that Obama’s American Jobs Act would have created over 1 million jobs in 1 year. Heck, independent analysis showed that it could create as many as 2 million jobs in 2012. House repugicans killed that.