Job Plan Cut Back to Four Items Including Tax Break (Update1)

By James Rowley and Brian Faler

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scaled back job-creating legislation to four items including a tax holiday for companies that hire the unemployed.
Also to be included in the measure, Reid told reporters in Washington today, is an extension of the Build America Bonds Program, a provision allowing small businesses to write off some expenses quickly, and an extension of federal highway construction funds.
Reid said other elements of an $85 billion package outlined earlier today will be taken up in subsequent legislation. These items include an extension of unemployment benefits set to expire at month’s end and a subsidy to help laid-off workers buy health insurance from their former employer.
“The American people need a message,” Reid said. “We don’t have a jobs bill, we have a jobs agenda. We’re going to move forward on that jobs agenda.”
Asked if Republicans would support the stripped-down version of the jobs legislation, Reid told reporters, “Republicans are going to have to make a choice” whether to support “a bipartisan bill that will create jobs.”
To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 11, 2010 15:11 EST