On Monday, the Senate voted 62-30 on a cloture motion to advance the scaled-back jobs bill introduced by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Reid’s bill, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, has been introduced as an amendment (S. Amt. 3310) in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2847, known as the Jobs for Main Street Act, which cleared the House of Representatives in December. In a move that surprised even some Senate Democrats, Reid decided that the Senate would consider smaller, separate jobs bills instead of the $85 billion bipartisan bill (pdf) unveiled by Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) on February 11. This decision was allegedly instigated after Senate Democrats complained to Reid that too many concessions had been made in order to garner Republican support of the bill. Reid has stated that introducing smaller bills will force the Senate to focus on job creation.

The Reid Amendment includes the provision in the Baucus-Grassley bill that would exempt any employer that hires a worker who has been without full-time work for at least 60 days from paying the employer’s share of Social Security taxes on that worker for 2010. The measure would also extend a tax credit for employers for capital investments. The bill does not include the three-month COBRA and unemployment extensions contained in the Baucus-Grassley bill. Instead, these provisions – which will likely include longer extensions – will be part of a separate bill that is expected to be introduced later this week. The COBRA and unemployment extensions are set to expire on February 28, 2010.