Economy

Ignore the Republicans On This

The administration and the Democrats are moving closer to passing a new jobs bill.

Reporting from Washington - Troubled by the rising jobless rate, President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are assembling a new jobs package that would devote billions of dollars to projects meant to put people back on payrolls in 2010 and keep them working.

Discussions over the scale of the bill are fluid, but lawmakers said the intent was to move swiftly and get a bill to Obama's desk as early as January.

The renewed push to create jobs is driven by a recognition that the $787-billion stimulus program enacted in February is not a sufficient remedy for an unemployment rate that stands at 10.2%.

This is, of course, great news, but the lesson from February is to ignore the Republicans. It can't be emphasized enough: they will sabotage the bill -- intentionally make it less effective. And in terms of the bill, there don't appear to be any demands for bipartisanship yet.

Good.