Speaking on the floor this morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “It’s now been two months since the President came before Congress and outlined his plan for tackling the jobs crisis — a plan that can best be described as a rehash of the same failed policies of the past few years disguised as a bipartisan overture, a political strategy masquerading as a serious legislative proposal. The president put this plan together knowing that Republicans would oppose it. In other words, it was actually designed to fail, as White House aides have readily admitted to reporters for weeks. This was not, I repeat, a serious effort to do something about jobs and the economy. It was a serious effort to help the President’s reelection campaign by making Republicans in Congress look intransigent. So what I’ve been saying for the past few weeks is let’s put the political games aside. We’ll have time for the election later. The American people want us to do something about jobs right now.”

And in fact, House Republicans have been doing just that. Leader McConnell pointed out, “While the President has been out on bus tours, Republicans in the House have been debating and passing bipartisan legislation aimed at making it easier for businesses across the country to grow and create jobs. And over the past two weeks, I’ve highlighted some of their good work. Yesterday, I mentioned in particular a bill the House passed just last week called the Small Company Capital Formation Act, or H.R. 1070, a bill that received 421 votes, including 183 Democrat votes. Only one person in the entire 435-member House of Representatives voted against this bill — just one. And President Obama endorsed the idea contained in this bill in his jobs speech to Congress in September. The question is: Why in the world wouldn’t the Democrat majority take it up and pass it here in the Senate?”

H.R. 1070 would remove a regulatory barrier that prevents small businesses from going public and improves their access to the capital they need to grow and create jobs. The Senate version has the bipartisan sponsorship of Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Jon Tester (D-MT).  Job creators support the bill, as well. The AP wrote recently, “Companies use the cash they raise to grow — and that means hiring people.”

Surely this bill would be a no-brainer for Senate Democrats to take up and pass. As Leader McConnell said to majority Democrats, “Take up this legislation that’s already passed the House with the support of almost everybody over there, and show the American people that you care more about creating jobs than in creating campaign slogans.”

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