Marco Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, combined forces last week with fellow freshman senator Chris Coons, the Democrat from Deleware, to draft the American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Act. The two senators believe this bipartisan job creation bill is something that both parties can agree on.
“The American people deserve solutions to create jobs, not more Washington gridlock and excuses,” Rubio said in a press release on his website Wednesday. “The AGREE Act is a meaningful step to find common ground and create a better environment for job creators to start businesses or expand existing ones. This kind of effort will be a real test of whether Washington has enough people who aren’t just willing to say they will work to find common ground but will actually prove it through their actions,” the Florida Republican added.
Rubio and Coons both appeared on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday to discuss both the unrest between Republicans and Democrats in Washington and the simplicity of their AGREE Act. The AGREE Act provides extensions for existing laws that support job creation and also draws from the ideas of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill that he introduced in September. Some of the legislation in the AGREE Act includes; a three year extension of eliminated taxes on certain small business stock, a three year extension on expensing levels for small businesses, and a tax credit of up to $100,000 for the fee associated with starting a franchise for veterans.
When asked whether they could actually bring their bill to a deciding vote, Coons was optimistic, saying they’ve already garnered bipartisan support for it.
“We drew these ideas from a broad range of sources, but most importantly from the president’s jobs bill, as well as from the president’s council on jobs and competitiveness,” the Delaware Democrat said to ABC’s Christiane Amanpour Sunday. “I think if we can focus on the broader challenge, which is finding at least 4 trillion dollars in the next decade in savings, in deficit reduction, we can stabilize our economy.”
“If it simply stays a zero sum game, a fight between no defense cuts or no reforms to entitlement, no raising taxes or no increase in revenue through comprehensive tax reform, no investments that grow our economy, we will simply continue to sink as a country,” Coons added.
