Although the Obama administration is hoping to sign the job create bill into law before the end of this week, yesterday Senate Republicans denounced the efforts of Democrats to pass the lengthy legislation in a hurry. It is now reported that the Senate will need to wait until at least the week of February 22nd to vote on the $80 billion job creation package.
"It's a cake that isn't quite baked yet," said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.), following a Senate nominations vote.
"Not enough of our members have had an opportunity to review it, for a consensus that would permit us to move forward on it that quickly," he added.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), had announced earlier Tuesday that despite another snowstorm rolling through the Washington region, he hoped to bring the jobs-creation bill for a vote by the end of the week.
Both the Senate and the House are in recess the week of Feb. 15 due to the Presidents' Day holiday.
Democratic leaders were still weighing procedural options late Tuesday. But with 15 senators absent from Tuesday's vote because the weekend snowstorm impeded their travel, it didn't appear that Democrats had the numbers to limit debate and push the bill to a vote without Republicans on their side.