Republicans got assists from three Democrats to stop progress on jobs.
A united GOP Conference, along with three members of the Senate Democratic Caucus — Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) — voted 50-50 to block a debate on the package, which would have been funded by a 0.5 percent surtax on those earning more than $1 million.
“It seems all we care about is scoring political points to be used in the next election,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “Shame on us if the blame game is the best thing that we can do.”
