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Franken: Republicans 'don't want people to get jobs;' state GOP cries foul
Posted by: under Minnesota U.S. senators Updated: July 26, 2010 - 5:27 PM
Sen. Al Franken said this weekend that Republicans don’t want a jobs bill to pass before the election because it would help Democrats politically, prompting the state Republican party to demand an apology from the Minnesota Democrat.
Speaking to ThinkProgress at the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas, Franken said that Republicans in the Senate have slowed down legislation for partisan gain.
“I do think that this whole approach of slowing everything down, in many ways I think it’s so that, they don’t want a jobs bill because they don’t want people to get jobs before the election,“ Franken said. “It’s a harsh thing to say, and I don’t want to impugn the motives of my colleagues, but I don’t get what they’re doing otherwise.”
In a statement, the Minnesota GOP Chairman Tony Sutton said that Franken “crossed a line.”
“Al Franken’s outrageous remarks are beneath a United States senator and we would encourage him to apologize for his baseless suggestion,” Sutton said.
Franken's office declined to comment.
In the interview (see video below), Franken expressed his frustration with Republican filibusters, saying that “sometimes it’d be a legitimate difference of opinion on something, but sometimes it’s been ridiculous.”
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