House Unlikely To Pass Obama's Tax Breaks Package

President Obama is chiding Congress for not acting on his plan to spur economic growth. Election year political dynamics are expected to derail this latest effort to spur job growth in the region. 

The president is asking Congress to renew tax breaks for clean energy firms. Many businesses in Northern Virginia are worried they will sunset, says Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). 

"Well, we certainly have a lot of firms that, if they're not directly involved in renewable energy, they're involved in the technology that undergirds it," Connolly says. "So a lot of our firms have a direct interest in the whole issue of the renewal of the energy tax credit." 

The president also wants Congress to give businesses tax credits for hiring new workers and to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. Republicans, such as Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.), say the president's plan is window dressing. 

"The things that he has put forward are the most anemic sort of things that a president could propose," Kyl says.

The partisan tit-for-tat is nothing new, and analysts expect the gridlock to persist through the November elections. That means the president and House Republicans are both likely to continue to see their agendas blunted. 

Voters will then be left to decipher which party is to blame for the sluggish economy.