Heller to campaign behind GOP jobs alternative

Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Thursday rolled out a template of what they might try to achieve if they capture control of the chamber and defeat President Barack Obama in next year's election.

The  "Jobs Through Growth Act" would repeal chunks of the Obama agenda,  including health care reform and new regulations on Wall Street.

It also contains a litany of other long-held GOP policy proposals, including a balanced budget requirement, a freeze on federal regulations, and caps on payouts from medical malpractice cases.

Some parts might attract some Democratic support, such as simplifying the tax system, tax relief for vendors who do business with the government, and  granting tax breaks to corporations that "repatriate" profits they earn overseas for investment in the U.S.

Democrats were having no part of it on Thursday. Zac Petkanas, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, said for instance the balanced budget requirement "is nothing short of a sneak attack on the Social Security and Medicare benefits of Nevada seniors."

“This is a political fig leaf that would likely add to the deficit while doing nothing to create jobs," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

In the short term, Republicans at a press conference characterized the package as their counteroffer to Obama, who has been campaigning around the country that the GOP, while opposing his American Jobs Act, has no plan of its own.

Republicans contend the Obama jobs bill followed an economic stimulus model they argue has not succeeded in lowering unemployment.  By contrast, "Our plan creates policies that create economic growth, and jobs follow growth," said Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind.

Longer term, the lineup likely would serve as a template for a Republican agenda if the party gains control following the 2012 elections.

"I have no doubt we are going to have a new president come in, and he is going to say, 'Hey, this is my jobs plan,'" said Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who has signed on.  "Obviously everything is subject to be reworked only because you will have new names and faces, but that being the case, I think this is a good step in the right direction."

Heller said the GOP proposal will play a part in his election campaign "without a doubt" as it unites themes he already has been emphasizing.

"I've talked about tax reform, I've talked about certainty (for business), I've talked about overregulation," Heller said,  "We have taken a composite of that and put it into a single jobs act moving forward.  I have been talking about it for the first five months I've been here (in the Senate.)"

Zach Hudson, a spokesman for the Nevada Democratic Party,  said that on jobs,  "Dean Heller has no credibility on this issue."  Democrats contend Heller has voted the wrong way on jobs bills that they would prefer.

The Republican package contains a Heller initiative.  It seeks to streamline permits for energy exploration on public lands by setting a 45-day deadline for the government to process initial applications. If no action is taken, the permit would be allowed to move forward. 

Heller said some applications languish for a year,  He contended the bill will cut some amount of time from an overall permitting process that critics say can take as long as 10 years in the case of hard rock mining.

"We give the federal government a shot clock," Heller said. "The process for getting permits on public lands has become so difficult we can create tens of thousands of jobs in Nevada if we can close the gap."