LaHood: GOP Doesn't Care About Jobs
Oct 31, 2011 8:03 PM EDT
Eleanor Clift
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the lone Republican in Obama’s Cabinet, says his party wants to do nothing in Washington, and is more committed to defeating the president than creating jobs. Democrats aren’t alone anymore in sounding the alarm about the paralysis gripping Congress these days. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former congressman and the lone Republican in the Cabinet, says he believes his own party has put defeating President Obama ahead of creating jobs in America.
“I’ve been in Washington 35 years… and I’ve never seen a time when people have put their own personal political feelings over how we can get the economy moving,” LaHood told Newsweek and The Daily Beast in a wide-ranging interview.
Even in the wake of a national report declaring 200 bridges structurally deficient, including one that brings tens of thousands of commuters from Virginia into Washington each day, and one that spans the home states of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, Republicans are expected to maintain their wall of opposition to a new round of stimulus spending on infrastructure. The infrastructure bill would put thousands of people to work, says LaHood, “but because of their own personal political feelings against the president, they don’t want to hand him a victory.”more...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/31/ray-lahood-for-gop-colleagues-obama-defeat-more-important-than-jobs.html