Sen. Jim DeMint knew that casting the lone vote against a veterans jobs bill wasn’t going to make him very popular – especially just a day before Veterans Day. But then again, the South Carolina tea-party Republican has never really cared about winning the popularity contest.
Nevertheless, he went to great length to explain on the Senate floor Thursday why the legislation amounted to nothing more than politics, almost anticipating the attacks from Democrats who later circulated an email quoting DeMint saying veterans are just another “political group.”
“I’ll probably be accused of not supporting veterans by the politicians pandering for their votes. But, I am not going to be intimidated into voting for something that may make sense politically but is inherently unfair and isn’t going to work,” DeMint said before the vote. “It might sound like good politics, but it is not good policy.”
The veterans bill, passed by the Senate 94-1, would provide tax credits for firms that hire unemployed or disabled vets. But DeMint opposed the legislation, arguing that the tax breaks won’t encourage hiring, would complicate the tax code and amount to the government picking winners and losers.
At one point, he said, “We're pandering to different political groups with programs that have proven to be ineffective.”