Senate GOP offers 200-page jobs bill

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and 32 other Senate Republicans on Monday introduced legislation aimed at creating U.S. jobs by reducing taxes and federal regulations and boosting domestic energy production and promoting exports.

The Jobs Through Growth Act, S. 1720, is a combination of several bills Republicans have offered in the Senate this year, including bills that would repeal last year's healthcare law and the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

"The Jobs Through Growth Act will help give the certainty and confidence that our private sector so badly needs to invest, grow and create jobs again," McCain said. "By cutting taxes, reforming our broken tax code, reducing spending and getting the burden of overregulation off America's back, we can get our economy moving again."

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the bill's co-sponsors, said the bill was put forward in light of the Senate's inability to move President Obama's jobs plan forward.

"More government spending and excessive regulation are the problem, not the solution," Paul said. "We have spent too long increasing the tax and regulatory burdens on job creators, instead of allowing them to operate more freely and create more jobs."

Among other things, the bill includes a sense of the Senate that Congress should approve a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. It also creates enhanced rescission authority, making it easier to collect unused federal money.

The bill would cut small-business and corporate taxes, and includes withholding tax relief. It also includes several sections that would ease federal regulations, including by repealing the healthcare and Dodd-Frank laws.

A summary of the bill can be seen here.

---