GOP mocks Obama's new 'can't wait' slogan, tells Senate to act

By Pete Kasperowicz - 10/24/11 07:29 PM ET

House Republicans on Monday night mocked President Obama's new "we can't wait" slogan that he introduced in a Las Vegas speech earlier in the day.
Obama used the slogan to stress his plans to introduce an administrative effort to help people refinance their mortgages. The plan, to be run through the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is aimed at making an existing refinancing program available to more borrowers.
The plan — and the "we can't wait" slogan — is meant to show an administration attempt to help struggling borrowers without waiting for Congress to act. But Republicans turned it around to ask why Democrats are ignoring more than a dozen House-passed bills that would ease federal regulations on companies.
"In my opinion, this slogan is an odd choice, especially coming from the president and his party," Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said. "Right now, 15 different House-passed jobs bills, each reducing the red tape that is hindering small business, each removing obstacles to domestic energy production, are stuck in the Senate awaiting action from Democratic leadership.
"Mr. Speaker, the president is right: We can't wait," he said in response to the Senate's inaction.
Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) mirrored Thompson's remarks. "It's not that the Senate has voted these jobs bills down, the Senate just won't vote," Poe said. "To my friends down the hallway in the Senate, how about voting on these bills?"
Poe also came up with his own slogan for the Senate, which has struggled to pass much of its own legislation this year: "It's time for the Senate to pick a horse and ride it."