House OKs tax breaks for new hires

March 5, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Despite doubts among many lawmakers that it will create many jobs, the House on Thursday passed legislation giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll-tax break.

The measure passed 217-201 on a mostly party-line vote. The bill also extends federal highway programs through the end of the year.

Some Democrats feel the approximately $35 billion jobs bill is too puny, while others say the tax cut for new hires won’t generate many new jobs.

Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, said he asked businessmen at town meetings in his Rust Belt district whether they would hire people based on the payroll tax holiday. “Nobody raised their hands,” LaTourette said. “This is not going to create one job.”

However, the pressure is on to address jobs and deliver a badly needed win for President Barack Obama and a Democratic Party struggling in opinion polls and facing major losses in the upcoming midterm elections.

The House had passed a much-larger measure in December that contained almost $50 billion in infrastructure funding, $50 billion in help for cash-starved state governments, and a six-month extension of jobless aid. That bill conspicuously left out the proposals to award tax credits for hiring new workers.

The Senate responded last week with the far-smaller measure that the House is reluctantly accepting.

The House amended the measure Thursday to conform with so-called pay-as-you-go budget rules.