WASHINGTON - A high profile effort at bipartisanship in the US Congress has crashed and burned raising fresh doubts about President Barack Obama's ability to get lawmakers including fellow Democrats to deliver. The rebuff is acute because it affects the president's top priority, cutting the 9.7 per cent US unemployment rate, in advance of November congressional elections at which Democrats expect losses. And the setback appears personal because Obama's fellow Democrats, not Republicans, smashed the jobs-creation proposal after it received the White House's blessing. "This hurts Obama," said Paul Light of New York University's Centre for the Study of Congress. "People think he's a good guy, a smart guy. But there are a lot of questions about whether he can lead towards his promise of 'change in Washington.'" Chris Krueger of Concept Capital, a private firm that tracks Washington for institutional investors, said: "Congress has had more than its fair share of train wrecks (but) this one takes the prize." Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, and the panel's top Republican, Charles Grassley, unveiled a $90 billion jobs package on Thursday ��" but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promptly tore it to pieces. Reid took the action after a meeting with fellow Democrats, during which many complained that the measure favoured business over labour, congressional sources said. Other senators suggested that a smaller bill would have a better chance to win quick passage. So Reid split the bill into pieces, with the initial portion, which he said would cost $15 billion, to be voted on when the Senate returns later this month from a week-long recess. The remainder would be voted on separately later, Reid said. His decision riled a number of Republicans, baffled some Democrats and appeared to leave the White House hanging. "The majority leader pulled the rug out from work to build broad-based support for tax relief and other efforts to help the private sector recover from the economic crisis," said Grassley spokeswoman Jill Kozeny. To add to the sense that Democrats are in disarray on the bill, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs had earlier hailed the Baucus-Grassley effort. "The president is gratified to see the Senate moving forward in a bipartisan manner on steps to help put Americans back to work," Gibbs said. A scaled-backed jobs bill can win bipartisan support, he said on Friday. On Friday, a senior Democratic aide voiced confidence that the scaled-back jobs bill would pass. Others doubted it. "It's not going to happen. It's a nonstarter," said congressional analyst Light.
