U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who says Congress has been distracted from what should be its No. 1 priority right now (jobs), voted against the so-called jobs bill this week. The $15 billion measure would give employers an exemption from their 6.2 percent Social Security payroll contribution for every new employee hired through the rest of the year, so long as that employee had been out of work for at least 60 days.

The bill passed the House anyway. So why did Pitts vote against it? In a statement, the Republican lawmaker said this: “It is critically important that Congress focus on getting Americans back to work, I just don’t think that this bill will help. This bill contained a permanent tax increase to pay for temporary tax relief. I think we can help small businesses with real and permanent relief that they can count on, not a temporary break that will disappear after a year.”

Pitts’ office also pointed out the 35 Democrats voted against this bill despite the fact that Democratic leadership was calling it a “jobs bill.” It only passed by a handful of votes. “That’s pretty significant opposition considering the subject matter,” a spokesman said. “We didn’t even know the content of this bill until 10:30 [Thursday] morning when it appeared at the Rules Committee. There was no attempt to let members, Republican or Democrat, contribute to writing this bill. The bill gets written behind closed doors, it’s sent to the floor, and we either take it or leave it.”