Democrats in Senate put bigger jobs plan in hopper

December 9, 1982

Senate Democrats unveiled their own jobs plan, to be financed by scaling back next July's income tax cut for people earning over $50,000 a year and eliminating it for those above $65,000.

Senate Democratic leader Robert Byrd, of West Virginia, said their plan would cost $9.7 billion in 1983 and $17.9 billion over three years. He said the plan would create 650,000 jobs in 1983, or double the administration's proposal, which passed the House early Tuesday along with a 5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax to finance it.