WASHINGTON: The US Senate overwhelmingly passed two modest job-creation bills on Thursday in a rare display of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans to boost the struggling economy.
The two measures, on their own, would do little to bring down the 9 percent unemployment rate. They represent one of the few areas of overlap between contrasting job-creation agendas the two parties are promoting ahead of the 2012 elections.
The Senate voted 95 to 0 to eliminate a yet-to-be-enacted law that would withhold 3 percent of payments to government contractors to ensure that they pay their taxes. Business groups oppose the law and Congress has prevented it from taking effect since it was passed in 2006. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed it two weeks ago.
The Senate also approved by a vote of 94 to 1 a package of job training, tax breaks and other incentives aimed at reducing unemployment among military veterans. Veterans account for 850,000 of the country's 14 million unemployed workers, according to the White House.
"If you spend six years in the Army driving a truck, you ought to be able to get your commercial drivers' license a whole lot faster than someone who does not have that experience," Democrat Jon Tester, a sponsor of the bill, said on the Senate floor.
The United States observes the Veterans Day holiday on Friday.
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